Grand Trunk Depot Where Thomas Edison Learned Telegraphy, Mount Clemens, Michigan, 1859

01

Artifact Overview

During a stop at this depot in 1862, a Grand Trunk Western Railroad newsboy and candy salesman rescued the son of station agent J.U. Mackenzie from an oncoming boxcar. In gratitude, Mackenzie taught him railroad telegraphy. The boy was Thomas Edison, who became a celebrated American inventor. Some of his early work was based on telegraph technology.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

1859

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

00.3.9498

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 12 in
Width: 19.5 in

Inscriptions

Printed at bottom edge: GRAND TRUNK DEPOT Mt Clemens 185[9?]