Continued from page 63 and was re-opened to the public in 1990. Two years after Ford sold their property, Edison’s widow deeded the Seminole Lodge to the City of Fort Myers as well, in memory of Thomas Edison. It too was restored and re-opened to the public in 1950. In 2006 the property got an infusion of capital, a restoration face-lift and is available for the world to discover. Edison’s Labratory
So much about Fort Myers had changed with the arrival of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford that this writer is surprised the town isn’t called Ford Myers. As you can imagine, Edison had something to do with bringing telephone service to the little frontier town as early as 1900. Ford and Edison’s donations helped finance the first volunteer Fire Department and naturally a municipal public water system had to be built to accommodate Edison, Ford, Eastman, Firestone and the flood of guests that would arrive. Entertainment and business catered to them, which made the downtown area boom and put Fort Myers Country Club on par with some of the best clubs in the world. Did you ever wonder why the Tamiami Trail links to Miami at Fort Myers? Mystery solved! Edison’s wife Mina took the trail T’Miami often. Today, any of us could drive across the trail or to Disneyland or Busch Gardens and be dazzled by the entertainment and thrill of brightly lit amusements. But to sit on the same huge porch where those brilliant minds rocked, is a whole other thrill. Especially when one realizes they couldn’t drive to those destinations, much less see those bright lights without Edison or Ford. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Fort Myers offers a variety of amazing tourist destinations, but it did take a couple of geniuses to invent the Edison and Ford Winter Estate.
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