Celebration To Light The Edison Memorial Tower

A celebration will be held Saturday in honor of the renovation of the Edison Memorial Tower.

The tower was dedicated 77 years ago.

“Edison, for whom the Township is named, perfected the incandescent light bulb in 1879 on the spot where the Tower now stands,” according to a news release from the Middlesex County Office of Communications.

A free, daylong celebration is scheduled for Saturday.

It is sponsored by the Board of the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park and begins at noon. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. The Tower will be lighted at 7 p.m. after it had been dark for years.

“The special relationship Middlesex County shares with the legacy of Thomas Edison has never been forgotten, and this monument is one of the most significant reminders of that relationship,” Middlesex County Freeholder Director Ronald G. Rios said in a prepared statement. “To see the Tower restored will be an event that should not be missed.”

According to the county’s news release:

The event will include children’s activities and music provided by school bands and choirs. The museum and gift shop will be open. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

A ranger from the Thomas Edison National Historical Park will demonstrate how recordings were made on wax cylinders, another of Edison’s inventions.

Saturday will also mark the start of fundraising efforts to pay for an expansion to the Thomas Edison Center. Those expansion plans include an educational center and community meeting place. More than 18,000 people have visited the center this year.

The tower is at the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park on Christie Street.

Parking will be available at the Menlo Park Elementary School, 155 Monroe Avenue, Edison. Buses will take visitors to the Thomas Edison Center from the school.

The rain date is Sunday.

Photo courtesy Middlesex County