04/23/2026
Thomas Edison spent the last years of his life in Fort Myers,
testing 17,000 plants to try to invent American rubber. 🌿
By the 1920s, America's entire industrial economy ran on imported
rubber — from Asia. Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone (the
"Uncommon Friends") saw it as a national security threat.
So from his Fort Myers winter estate, Edison built a botanical
research lab and systematically tested plant after plant looking
for one that could produce rubber domestically.
17,000 samples later, he found his answer in goldenrod — a w**d
most people walked past without a second thought.
He died in 1931 before the research could be commercialized. But
that work happened right here, on the Caloosahatchee.
That's one of 98 questions in the Fort Myers Town Beacon — daily
trivia about YOUR city's real history. Play today's beacon,
score 40%+, earn an entry in tonight's Fort Myers Genesis
Giveaway 🪙
🔗 digitaltowns.app/fort-myers
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