Edison Laboratory

West Orange, only a town over, is the home of one of America’s national parks. Modern day began at the turn of the twentieth century at the Laboratory of Thomas Edison. The laboratory stands at the corner of Main Street and Lakeside Avenue in West Orange. Within these brink buildings, that many people pass on a daily basis without any consideration was the birthplace pf what some believe to be some of the greatest scientific discoveries. These buildings, built in 1997, held the chemistry, physics, and metallurgy laboratories as well as the machine shop, pattern shop, and research library; and rooms for experiments for Edison. Within this complex Edison developed his ideas for alkaline storage batteries, recorded music, and motion pictures. Once he perfected, these prototypes, they were sent to a factory complex that Edison began building in 1888, adjacent to the laboratory. In the factory, the products were manufactured into commercial quantities and sold to the world. The products created within these walls during the late 19th and early 20th centuries dramatically changed the way Americans lived and worked. Business and technology came together at this complex and provided a model for modern corporate and governmental research and development laboratories. New Jersey has an enriched history that helped bring the world into modern day. Without Edison’s discoveries life today would not be the same. New Jersey has been the home for innovation since before the turn of the 20^th century. Additionally, national parks like this one continue to teach a new generation of New Jersey residents what great things New Jersey has to offer.