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The history of Edison
Edison connects the Menlo Park story of Thomas Edison with a township of shopping streets and varied local dining. Oak Tree Road and established neighborhood centers offer different starting points across this part of Middlesex County.
People who shaped Edison
These milestones are an introduction, not a complete local history. Follow the linked city and museum sources to explore the people and places behind them.Read the local historical account.
Watch the city’s history
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Walkthrough of the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park | Edison, NJ
The Thomas Edison Center introduces its Menlo Park museum and the research site it interprets.
Watch on YouTube ↗Famous people born in Edison
See all 37 famous people
- 1689
Stelton Baptist Church
Stelton Baptist Church was formed in the spring of 1689, making it the second-oldest Baptist church in New Jersey. The Stelle family, among its first members, gave its name to the Stelton section.
Township of Edison ↗ - 1693
Bonhamtown hosts the courts
By 1693 Bonhamtown, on Old Post Road, served as the seat of justice for Middlesex and Somerset counties. The hamlet takes its name from Nicholas Bonham, a freeholder there in the early 1680s.
Township of Edison ↗ - 1777
The Oak Tree Engagement
Local militia fought British and Hessian troops advancing toward General Washington's army near today's Oak Tree and Plainfield roads. The clash formed part of the Battle of Short Hills.
Township of Edison ↗ - 1876
A laboratory at Menlo Park
Thomas Edison moved his research operation to Menlo Park, then part of rural Raritan Township. A team of scientists, machinists and other specialists worked together in the laboratory complex.
Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park ↗ - 1877
The phonograph
Work at Menlo Park produced the phonograph, a device capable of recording and reproducing sound. Edison announced the invention in November, making the laboratory internationally known.
Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park ↗ - 1879
A public display of electric light
On New Year's Eve, visitors came to see electric lights at the Menlo Park complex. The demonstration followed experiments toward a practical, longer-lasting incandescent lamp.
U.S. Census Bureau: Thomas Edison history ↗ - 1936
Light Dispelling Darkness
Sculptor Waylande Gregory and twenty artists working under the WPA's Federal Art Project created a ceramic fountain in Roosevelt Park. Its theme drew on nearby Menlo Park, where Edison experimented with electric light.
Middlesex County: Roosevelt Park ↗ - 1938
The memorial tower is dedicated
The Art Deco Edison Memorial Tower was dedicated on February 11. Its enormous light-bulb form became a local landmark commemorating the research undertaken at the site.
Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park ↗ - 1954
The township takes the Edison name
On November 10, Raritan Township officially became Edison Township. The change honored the inventor whose Menlo Park laboratory had made the place widely known.
U.S. Census Bureau: Thomas Edison history ↗ - 1964
A college on arsenal land
Middlesex College was founded on the land and buildings of the former Raritan Arsenal, which were converted for teaching. Edison has been the college's home ever since.
Middlesex College ↗
See the history for yourself.
Explore the city’s historic streets and linked local history.the TheEdisonTower.
For deeper research, the Edison library resources is a starting point for archival material and research help. Historic photographs have their own permissions; we link to the collection instead of treating every old image as free to reuse.
Selected milestones researched October 17, 2026. This is an introduction, not a complete account of local history.