Sixty years ago today, the birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison in Milan was declared eligible for National Historic Landmark status by the U. S. Secretary of the Interior. Below is the article making the announcement that ran in the
Journal on January 14, 1965.
I would have thought that since the small brick home of the inventor had been a tourist attraction (and subject of picture post cards) for decades, that it had already had such a designation. But that's not the case.
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| Postmark 1908 |
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| Postmarked 1943 |
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| 1950s |
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| 1966 |
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| 1970s |
It did receive approval of its official historic landmark designation fairly quickly.
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| January 18, 1965 Lorain Journal |
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You might be wondering (like me) about those postcards that show Edison's home with a large, unsightly roof overhang. Apparently it was added some time between the early 1900s and the 1940s. So when was it removed? When the house was restored by the Edison family to its original appearance at the time of Edison's birth, just in time for the 100th anniversary in Feb. 1947.
This article from the Feb. 11, 1946 Lorain Journal explains.
6 comments:
"unsightly roof overhang" - dude, that's a porch.
Great post. Thanks!
I can still recall the words of a German welder who worked at NASA, "It's a veranda!" He was referring to a steel landing on the ladders that went up to the top of some tall high pressure storage tanks. From then on they were "verandas" to us.
Roof, porch or veranda, it's definitely unsightly.
Very good piece, Dan - much that was new to me.
Visited while in Milan for the melon festival. Interesting but liked the cantaloupe and ice cream better. Todd
Forget the porch,overhang,whatever.I dig that little phone booth looking thing attached to the side of the house.When they added the overhang it looks like they walled off the entrance to the house and tore down the phone booth.But when they ripped the overhang off,the phone booth and entrance re-appeared again.
That phone booth is a trellis portico! I have older photos of my house from the 1930s and 50s and it had one very similar.
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