Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates

 Our latest outing was into Fort Myers to see the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  These two remarkable men first met in 1896 at a New York conference for the Edison Illuminating Companies.   Edison had been a boyhood hero of Ford's.  At the time, Ford worked as a mechanic at the Detroit Edison Plant and had been working on his quadricycle.  Edison encouraged Ford to "keep at it".  By 1907 Ford was on the brink of releasing the Model T .  The two did not meet again until 1910, but they would become close friends for the rest of their lives.  They even purchased winter vacation homes alongside each other in Fort Myers, Florida.  These homes have become the property of  the City of Fort Myers which restored them and added a museum on the property.

Edison Winter Home

Porch looking out on the Caloosahatchee River

Some shots into the interior of the house

Thomas Edison was an amazing man.  He is often referred to as America's greatest inventor.  His most famous inventions include the phonograph, motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb.  But Edison had many more projects.  He was very interested in reducing the US reliance on foreign rubber.  To that end he built a botanical laboratory at his winter estate in Fort Myers and experimented with different plants to produce latex for rubber.  After testing over 17,000 plant species he found an adequate source in the goldenrod.  He was able to cross-breed this plant which normally grew 3-4 feet high and yielded 5% latex into a variant that was twice as big and had a yield of 12% latex.  This is just one example of many ingenious inventions not many people ever knew came from the mind of Thomas Edison.  Over the course of his life he would be granted 1,093 US patents.

Here are two pictures from his restored botanical laboratory on his winter estate

As I mentioned before, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were to become good friends.  The Ford family purchased the property next door to Edison in Fort Myers and made there winter vacation home here as well.  Henry Ford is as you know the father of the automobile.  The founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford developed the assembly line technique for mass production.  He was able to create and produce the first automobile affordable to the middle class, converting this luxury into a product attainable to many.  The small amount of research I have done about Ford was quite interesting.  Ford had many cutting edge ideas about business instituting the 5 day (40 hour) work week (it was previously 6 days) and profit sharing for his employees.  He was one of very few large companies to actively employ African American employees as well as women and those people with handicaps.  Unfortunately he also held strongly antisemitic views.  In 1938 for his 75th birthday the German consul in Cleveland gave Ford the Grand Cross of the German Eagle.  This was the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner.  Henry Ford was far from a perfect person, however he did contribute many good things to the world.

Two of many antique cars in the Ford and Edison Museum

After two unsuccessful auto companies, Henry Ford became the prinicpal founder of the Ford Motor Company in 1903.  As I mentioned above, Henry Ford was instrumental in applying the assembly line to the auto industry.  This lowered costs and increased production.  Instead of 25 cars a day, his plant was able to produce 1,000 cars a day by 1913.  Total production time to build a car went from 12 hours to 90 minutes.    In 1908, when many cars cost over $2,000, the Model T cost $850 and by 1926, the price had dropped to $290.

View out across the lawn of the Ford's winter property.  Caloosahatchee River in the backround.

Shared dock of Edison and Ford estates

It was another successful outing.  Ft Myers is a nice town with lots to see and do and we have enjoyed out time here greatly.