Which New Jersey laboratory did Thomas Edison open in 1876?

Thomas Edison opened his Menlo Park laboratory in New Jersey in 1876. The complex was built in the rural community then known as Menlo Park, in Middlesex County, and became one of the earliest industrial research laboratories.

Edison designed Menlo Park as a place where inventors, machinists, draftsmen, and scientists could work together on related problems. The site included machine shops, chemical facilities, a library, offices, and experimental buildings. Its team-based approach influenced later corporate research laboratories.

Menlo Park is often called Edison’s “invention factory,” although that phrase describes the working culture rather than a single device. The laboratory was associated with major developments including improved telegraph equipment, the phonograph, and practical electric-lighting research.

Edison left Menlo Park for his larger West Orange complex in New Jersey in the 1880s. The West Orange laboratory later became his principal research site for many projects.