Thomas Edison and Ezra Gilliland, who had first become friends as telegraph operators in Adrian, Michigan, and later roommates and co-workers in Cincinnati, Ohio, traveled to Florida in March 1885 and eventually reached Fort Myers, where they decided to build adjacent winter retreats. Gilliland, known for his mechanical, technical, and sales expertise, had helped Edison manufacture telegraph equipment, the electric pen, and the phonograph. In the summer of 1885, architect Alden Frink of Boston, Massachusetts, prepared plans and specifications for a dwelling and machine shop and received a payment of $200. Gilliland contracted the Stephen Nye Lumber Company and Kennebec Framing Company of Fairfield, Maine, to have all the material precut, milled, and shipped south to the building site. Several shipments carrying planks, boards, shingles, windows, and sashes arrived by boat in January 1886, and because every part was planed, sized, cut, and marked to place with instructions, hired workmen could assemble the structures correctly and efficiently. Paid between $1.50 and $2.75 per day, the workmen completed both structures in only a few months. Unlike many wealthy contemporaries, Edison and Gilliland built rather modest two-story rectangular homes with separate wings for kitchens and support staff bedrooms, and each man ultimately spent nearly $12,000 on design, materials, shipping, construction, and furnishings for his winter estate.

Photo: Brandon D Cross

Fort Myers, Florida · USA