Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum

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The Edison Memorial Tower

The Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum is a memorial located in the Menlo Park area of Edison, New Jersey to inventor and businessman Thomas Edison.

It was built in 1937 and dedicated on February 11, 1938, on the inventor's 91st birthday. The 131-foot tall tower is at the exact spot where the Menlo Park laboratory was located. After Edison and his staff left in 1884, the original buildings deteriorated until by 1925 all the buildings had either collapsed or burned.

The museum showcases many of Thomas Edison's creations including the phonograph and some of his light bulbs, as well as memorabilia relating to Edison and his inventions. The museum also showcases several images taken of Edison's property and inventions.

The tower was also mentioned in a 2004 Weird NJ magazine. It states that originally, the tower was not only a tribute to the incandescent light, but also recorded sound. It had speakers loud enough to be heard two miles away, but was discontinued to avoid noise pollution.

The Edison Museum is the subject of a song ("The Edison Museum") on the They Might Be Giants 1999 album Long Tall Weekend (and was later re-released on their 2002 album No!) which was at one point performed at the Edison National Historic Site and recorded there to Wax cylinder.

Nearby the tower are some modern walking trails, upon which visitors are free to enjoy the nature that Thomas Edison enjoyed. The trail is a short path the leads through a small patch of woods near the museum.

In 2006, volunteers with the IEEE are raising money to restore the tower and build a new museum. The restoration effort received a large boost when the state recently appropriated $1.8 million to the project.