Recharging Edison’s batteries

Thomas Edison relocated his headquarters operations from New York City to the leafy climes of West Orange, N.J., in 1887. There, 25 miles west of the city, he purchased Glenmont, a 29-room Queen Anne–style mansion for his family, and built his third—and grandest—laboratory, his “Invention Factory,” where he pledged to create “something useful every week” and “a big idea every six months.”