EDISON — New Jersey environmental officials have awarded a $2.4 million contract for restoration work at a tower honoring inventor Thomas Edison. The contract awarded today to Bergenfield firm Astral Construction Services calls for it to clean and repair the art deco monument in Edison Township. The tower was opened in 1938 at the site of the inventor's Menlo...
The Thomas Edison Memorial Tower appears in this 2009 file photo.EDISON — New Jersey environmental officials have awarded a $2.4 million contract for restoration work at a tower honoring inventor Thomas Edison.
The contract awarded today to Bergenfield firm Astral Construction Services calls for it to clean and repair the art deco monument in Edison Township.
The tower was opened in 1938 at the site of the inventor's Menlo Park laboratory. That's where he did most of his work, including perfecting the incandescent lamp, inventing the phonograph and developing a system for generating and distributing electric current.
The 130-foot tower is on the New Jersey and national registers of historic places. It's been closed to the public for several years because of crumbling concrete that made it hazardous.
Edison died in 1931.
Previous coverage:
• Di Ionno: Thomas Edison, a historic figure, remains modern and forward-thinking
• Nonprofit group raises $3M, to restore Edison Memorial Tower and Museum
• $375K sought for crumbling Edison monument
• Group to unveil plans for Menlo Park center honoring Thomas Edison
• Researchers unearth recording that predates Edison's phonograph