Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

New Jersey Historic Trust Affiliated with the Department of Community Affairs

Edison Memorial Tower

Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund
Historic Site Management Grant
Grant Award: $50,000 (2004); $18,000 (2009)
Grant Recipient: Municipality of Edison
County: Middlesex
Municipality: Edison

The Edison Memorial Tower has national significance. It marks the site where Edison's Menlo Park Industrial complex was located from 1876 to 1884, and where the first practical incandescent light bulb was created, along with other inventions. This is the birthplace of recorded sound and the launching for the world's first "organized research" laboratory. The Edison Tower (1937) is considered the State's best representative of a public monument in the Art Deco Style and the last work of architectural concrete pioneer John J. Early.

The 2009 Trust grant helped fund the preparation of a strategic plan and a capital campaign to assist with the multi-million dollar restoration that will enable the tower to reopen to the public. The 2004 grant helped fund a master plan that included an archaeological study, preservation plan and restoration alternatives for the tower and site.

For more information, visit: http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/


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