Thomas Edison in West Orange (Images of America: New Jersey)

Thomas Edison spent the second half of his life in West Orange, about 10 miles from New York City. There he built his last and largest laboratory, where he developed motion pictures, improved the phonograph, and built an international business empire, earning over half of his 1,093 patents. The five laboratory buildings housed over 100 experimenters busily engaged in invention and innovation. As they turned ideas into commercial products, Edison surrounded the laboratory with factories that employed over 4,000 workers. From the first days, staff photographers documented every aspect of life in this town within a town.