After the guests had bee n properly greeted and the throngs of media had gotten their quotes and photographs, Henry Ford gave Hoover a personal tour of the massive Ford Motor Company Rouge industrial complex, five miles away. E ighty-two-year-old Edison retired to Ford’s nearby Fair Lane estate to rest while the hundreds of guests gathered at the Clinton Inn (now known as Eagle Tavern) to enjoy lunch followed by afternoon horse-and-carriage tours of Greenfield Village.

Ford, Hoover and Edison arrive at the Smiths Creek, Michigan depot where a young Edison had been thrown off the train some 70 years earlier for starting a fire. The station was one of several Edison-related buildings that Henry Ford moved to Greenfield Village. 0.15432
This painting of the Light’s Golden Jubilee banquet was begun in 1938 at the request of Henry Ford. Completed by artist Irving Bacon seven years later, the 17 x 7-foot painting hangs in the museum. 46.79.1
Edison and Jehl recreate the successful lighting of the first electric light in the restored Menlo Park Laboratory in Greenfield Village . President Hoover and Henry Ford look on. P.B.4199

That evening, guests gathered at the museum—the front galleries of which had been hurriedly completed just in time for the celebration. Fine crystal chandeliers, fitted with candles, cast a soft glow about the rooms. NBC Radio broadcaster Graham McNamee set the mood for the evening in a coast-to-coast live broadcast: "Imagine the checkered effect of black and white evening dress, the brilliant splashes of color provided by the uniforms of military attaches and the great stylists of Paris and Fifth Avenue ...I have attended many celebrations, but I cannot recall even attempting to describe one staged in a more perfect setting."

After a sumptuous banquet, Edison, Ford and Hoover went to the reconstructed Menlo Lab in Greenfield Village to recreate the lighting of the first electric lamp. There, Edison and Francis Jehl, his former assistant, both went to work—much like they had half a century earlier, preparing to forever change the world. As they worked, McNamee narrated to a hushed world: "Mr. Edison has two wires in his hand; now he is reaching up to the old lamp; now he is making the connection.… It lights! Light's Golden Jubilee has come to a triumphant climax."

As the connection was made in the Menlo Lab, the museum building was bathed in light and a replica of the Liberty Bell, cast from the same mold, sounded in the belfry. Overhead a plane flew by with the word “ Edison” and the dates “79” and “29” illuminated under the wings. Car horns sounded, lights flashed on and off, and the world bathed itself in electric light in tribute to Edison.

Worldwide publicity of the Light’s Golden Jubilee event encouraged Americans from coast to coast—and people around the world—to participate in the celebration. People huddled around their radios, plunged into near darkness, using only candles or gas lamps for light, waiting for Edison's successful re-creation as a cue to turn on their lights as part of the celebration. Small towns and large cities put on elaborate light displays.

After the reenactment, Ford, Hoover, Edison and Jehl returned to the museum to hear Edison ’s speech, accolades from Madame Curie and President Hoover, and a radio address by Albert Einstein broadcast from Germany. Henry Ford, not wishing to steal the spotlight from his friend, did not speak or allow photographs at the evening ceremony.

This event was just the beginning—Ford’s tribute to Edison and American ingenuity was a lasting one. The artifacts and buildings Ford gathered for his indoor and outdoor museums, now known collectively as The Henry Ford, have told stories of American innovation for 75 years. They will continue to inspire countless generations to come.

Terry Hoover
Archivist

Copyright © 2014 The Henry Ford The Henry Ford is an AAM accredited institution. The complex is an independent, non-profit, educational institution not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or the Ford Foundation.