Home Link

Changes at 40



West Orange laboratory under construction, 1887

 
West Orange laboratory under construction, 1887
 


   

In 1880 Edison moved back to New York City to oversee the installation of his lighting system and to help create a manufacturing company. (In 1892 that company became, by merger, General Electric.) By 1886 he was eager to get back to the laboratory.

In West Orange, New Jersey, he built a new facility and began work in the fall of 1887, the year of his 40th birthday. It was ten times larger than Menlo Park and, according to Edison, "could do ten times as big things."

But changes in Edison's world, and changes in Edison, intervened. With the success of his incandescent light, Edison became a legend. Demands on his time came from all quarters. Edison also remarried after the death of his first wife and decided to spend more time with his family. And in the 1880s, dramatic changes were sweeping through the field of electrical technology.

 

 


"Glenmont,": the Edison home, 1905

 
"Glenmont,": the Edison home, 1905
 


Edison's winter home in Ft. Myers, FL, about 1905

 
Edison's winter home in Ft. Myers, Florida, about 1905
 


Edison at age 45

 
Edison at age 45
 


Mina Miller, at the time of her marriage to Edison, 1886

 
Mina Miller, at the time of her marriage to Edison, 1886
 

Previous Gallery   Next Gallery

 

Comments & questions:
Electricity Collections

 

The Challenge of Success
Before Forty
Changes At Forty
Home Life
The New Technical World
Fame And Its Distractions
Edison In His Eighties