Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were friends who escaped the wintry northern cold for adjacent homes in the warmth of Fort Myers, nestled beside the Caloosahatchee River in southwestern Florida. Their two homes, the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, are open to the public daily and house an historical museum and 17-acre botanical garden. Thomas Edison first visited Florida in 1885, and decided that he would build a vacation home there. He purchased a piece of property on that first trip and two years later, named his winter retreat 'Seminole Lodge', which he used up until his death in 1931. Fifteen years prior to Edison’s death, his friend Henry Ford purchased the adjoining property called 'The Mangoes,' a craftsman-style bungalow built in 1911 by Robert Smith of New York. As a youth, the motor company founder worked at an Edison company in Detroit and used his spare time tinkering with gas-powered engines.
The two entrepreneurs met at a convention in 1896, and Edison encouraged the younger man. The two proved to be kindred spirits and became great friends, leading to the automaker to purchase the adjoining property next to Edison. The entrepreneurs spent hours sitting on their porches, discussing projects, planning trips to the Everglades, listening to Mina play the piano and playing Parcheesi, Edison's favourite game.
In 1947, Mina Edison donated the property to the City of Fort Myers in the memory of her husband, and was opened for tours three years later in 1950. However, it took another four decades before the Henry Ford estate was purchased and opened to the public for tours. In 2003, a non-profit was established - the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford Winter Estates - in order to protect and preserve the sites. Today, the Edison and Ford Estates offer a glimpse into the home lives of the famed inventor and the automaker, two of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and looks exactly as it did back in Edison’s lifetime.
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