After mingling with the butterflies at The Butterfly Estate, I drove a mile down McGregor Boulevard to the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates. In 1916 Edison and Ford became Florida neighbors. Edison's home became known as Seminole Lodge and Ford's home was called the Mangoes.
Thomas Edison purchased his property in 1885 and had the lumber for two post-and-beam homes pre-cut in Maine and transported by ship to Fort Myers where the houses was constructed by local laborers. Edison returned in 1886 with Mina, his new bride. Edison originally sold the 2nd home to his good friend and business partner Ezra Gilliland. However, they had a falling out and Edison re-acquired the home in 1906, remodeling it for use as a guest house. Among the many guests were Harvey Firestone and President Herbert Hoover. Some of the visitors sent stones to commemorate their visit. (One unmarked stone is said to be from Henry Ford, who claimed he was just a poor farm boy and couldn't afford to have it engraved.) Mina lived in the main house until 1947 when she deeded it to the city of Fort Myers for $1.
Edison originally came to southern Florida to look for sources of rubber from latex-producing plants. He, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone formed the Edison Botanical Research Corporation in 1927. Its goal was to produce a sufficient amount of rubber that could supply the nation during emergencies, especially during times of war. (During World War I the price of rubber rose dramatically.) Edison set up a network of plant collectors and searched the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other countries for latex-producing plants. 17,000 specimens were planted at the Fort Myers estate.
There were many interesting features of the Edison Winter Estate that I will continue in the next posts......
