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Historical marker

Historical marker

Historical marker which reads, "'Seminole Lodge', winter home and laboratory of famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) who came to Fort Myers in 1884 for the first of a long series of 'working vacations', here he spent countless hours with co-workers to perfect earlier inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, moving picture camera and storage battery, and to explore new ideas (1097 U.S. patents). He also developed here one of the most extensive tropical botanical gardens in the United States, on a miniature rubber plantation he found Florida goldenrod the most promising native plant to produce natural rubber. Mrs. Edison, before her death in 1947, gave the estate to the city of Fort Myers."
Photo credit: The Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida

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