In 2018, sculptor Alan Cottrill presented this Thomas Alva Edison statue as a gift to the people of the Village of Milan, Ohio, in appreciation for their collective efforts to secure the permanent placement of a Thomas Edison statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 2016, as one of two statues representing Ohio. Cottrill gave special thanks to Don Gfell and Jeanette Henry, who worked tirelessly toward the end. Completed by Cottrill in 2018, this statue is a variation of his U.S. Capitol Building Statuary Hall Edison statue. Its granite base, shaped like a Buckeye, was the original base designed by Cottrill, carved in 2013, and intended for the Statuary Hall Edison statue, which ultimately used a more traditional square granite base.