Thomas Edison Depot Museum

United States historic place


Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site


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Location	520 State St., Port Huron, Michigan
Coordinates	42°59′55″N 82°25′34″W / 42.99861°N 82.42611°W / 42.99861; -82.42611
Area	less than one acre
Built	1858 (1858)
Architectural style	Italian Villa
NRHP reference No.	77001397
Added to NRHP	April 13, 1977

The Thomas Edison Depot Museum (previously the Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot) is a former railway depot located at 520 State Street in Port Huron, Michigan. It has been converted into a museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

History

The Canadian Grand Trunk Railway Company constructed this building as the Gratiot Railway Station in 1858. It served as a major port for immigrants passing from Canada into the United States, and by 1869, approximately 42,000 immigrants had passed through the station. Near the station lived a young Thomas Edison, who worked at the station as a news butcher from 1859 to 1863.

A larger, two-story station was constructed in 1907 to replace the 1858 depot (the 1907 depot was used until 1971 and demolished in 1973). In approximately the mid-1920s, the 1858 depot was converted to office space by the Peerless Cement Company.

The Port Huron Museum opened the Thomas Edison Depot Museum in the building in 2001. The depot is owned and operated by the Port Huron Museum and is the actual depot that Thomas Edison worked out of as a news reporter. The museum includes a restored baggage car resting on a short spur of railroad track. The museum houses artifacts from the archaeological dig done at the site of his boyhood home, which burned in 1870. See and hear original Edison phonographs played, see the world's largest light bulb and learn about the early days of this famous inventor.

Description

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot is a single story rectangular seven-bay structure located near the Blue Water Bridge. The building has wood siding, and is topped with a low gabled roof. The roof is supported by gracefully carved brackets. It has a variety of windows throughout the building, including ocular vent openings suggestive of the elegance of the Italian Villa Style.

Notes

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ Trevor Geo. Gardner; Janet L. Kreger (May 17, 1976), NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM: Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot
"Port Huron -Peerless Cement". Port Huron & Northern Railroad. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
"Thomas Edison Depot Museum". Port Huron Museum.

External links

Thomas Edison Depot

v t e Thomas Edison
Discoveries and inventions	List of Edison patents Carbon microphone Edison's Phonograph Doll Edison screw Etheric force Kinetoscope Phonograph Phonomotor Quadruplex telegraph Tasimeter
Advancements	Consolidated Edison Edison–Lalande cell Fluoroscopy Incandescent light bulb Movie camera Nickel–iron battery Thermionic emission Ticker tape
Ventures	Thomas A. Edison, Inc. Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company of Europe Edison Illuminating Company Edison Machine Works Edison Manufacturing Company Edison Ore-Milling Company Edison Portland Cement Company Edison Records Edison Storage Battery Company Edison Studios General Electric Motion Picture Patents Company Mine Safety Appliances Oriental Telephone Company
Monuments	Birthplace Black Maria Depot Museum Memorial Tower and Museum National Historical Park State Park Storage Battery Company Building General Electric Research Laboratory Winter Estates
Family	Charles Edison (son) Theodore Miller Edison (son)
Films	Young Tom Edison (1940) Edison, the Man (1940) "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" (1998) The Current War (2017) Tesla (2020)
Literature	The Future Eve (1886) Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898) Tales from the Bully Pulpit (2004)
Productions	The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895) The Kiss (1896) Frankenstein (1910) A Night of Terror (1911) Kidnapped (1917)
Terms	Edisonade Edisonian approach
Related	Thomas Edison in popular culture War of the currents Pearl Street Station Edison Museum Thomas Edison House Edison Hotel Telephonoscope Statue of Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison silver dollar

v t e Municipalities and communities of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States
County seat: Port Huron
Cities	Algonac Marine City Marysville Memphis‡ Port Huron Richmond‡ St. Clair Yale	Map_of_Michigan_highlighting_St._Clair_County.svg
Villages	Capac Emmett
Charter townships	China East China Fort Gratiot Port Huron
Civil townships	Berlin Brockway Burtchville Casco Clay Clyde Columbus Cottrellville Emmett Grant Greenwood Ira Kenockee Kimball Lynn Mussey Riley St. Clair Wales
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