Edison and Ford Winter Estates

 The Edison and Ford Winter Estates contain a historical museum and 21 acre (8.5 hectares) botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford beside the Caloosahatchee River in Southwestern Florida. There is also a garden center (the Garden Shoppe) with hundreds of plants and trees available for purchase. It is located at 2350 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, Florida.

On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects' Florida Chapter placed the Edison and Ford Winter Estates on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places. The American Chemical Society recognized the Edison Botanical Research Laboratory at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates as a National Historic Chemical Landmark on May 25, 2014.

The present site dates from 1885, when Edison first visited Southwest Florida and purchased the property to build a vacation home. His home, completed in 1886 and later dubbed "Seminole Lodge", served as a winter retreat and place of relaxation until Edison's death in 1931. Edison's good friend Henry Ford purchased the adjoining property, "The Mangoes" from Robert Smith of New York in 1916. Ford's craftsman style bungalow was built in 1911 by Smith. In 1947, Mrs. Mina Edison deeded the Edison property to the City of Fort Myers in memory of her Husband for the enjoyment of the public. It was opened for public tours soon after.

In 1988, the adjacent Henry Ford winter estate was purchased and opened for public tours in 1990. In 2003, the governance of the site was transferred from the City to a new non-profit corporation, Thomas Edison & Henry Ford Winter Estates, Inc. (dba Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Inc.) whose mission is to protect, preserve and interpret the site. The new corporation successfully completed a $14 million restoration project in the following years. A separate fundraising arm, Edison-Ford Winter Estates Foundation, Inc. was created to assist the restoration project with no function in governance, programming or development but rather to assist the governing board with the initial restoration.

Edison's botanical garden contains more than a thousand varieties of plants from around the world, including African Sausage Trees and a 400-foot (120 m) banyan tree planted in the mid-1920s. The gardens feature plants grown for industrial purposes (such as bamboo, used in light bulb filaments) and those which Mina Edison planted for their beauty, including roses, orchids and bromeliads. The Moonlight garden was designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman.

 

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