Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1841. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. 6 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1904.

From the record

“The Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace is a historic house museum at 9 Edison Drive in Milan, Ohio, Built in 1841, it was the birthplace of American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), born on February 11, 1847. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.”
Wikipedia article Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 181 National Register listings published here for Erie County · listed in 1966 · category: Building · built in 1841 · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Edison, Thomas Alva, Birthplace - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Edison Dr., Milan, 44846
When was it listed? 1966-10-15
Category. building
Township. Milan township
When was it built? 1841
National Register reference number. 66000608 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,370 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,370 specimens collected within 10 miles of Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace between 1874 and 1975: 762 Plantae, 548 Animalia, 60 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A. Dowdy, Albert Commons and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) T.Moore	1900	Grover, F.O.	"Dry sandy hillside, shaded
Carduus nutans L.	1874	Jones, G.T.	Berlin Twp., just W of Ceylon
Macropetalichthys rhapheidolabis Norwood & Owen, 1846 (fossil)	1881	D. S. Young
Graminopassalora graminis (Fuckel) U.Braun, C.Nakash., Videira & Crous	1886	William Trelease; A. Commons	Madison
Scolecotrichum graminis Fuckel	1886	Dr. Wm. Trelease; A. Commons	(a) Madison, Wis. (b) Faulkland, Del.
Athyrium pycnocarpon (Spreng.) Tidestr.	1888	Steele, E.S.	Milan.
Carex gracillima Schwein.	1892	Moseley, E.L.	Shinrock
Catharus fuscescens fuscescens (Stephens, 1817)	1892	C. Tuttle	Berlin Heights
Apocynum sibiricum Jacq.	1896	Watson, J.R.	North Ohio
Aristolochia serpentaria L.	1896	Simms, C.	Berlin
Asclepias verticillata L.	1896	E. L. Moseley	Groton
Carex bromoides Willd.	1896	Moseley, E.L.	Milan

All 1,370 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace: 5 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Bauer Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Delhi Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mortensen Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Reer Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Weilnau Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Erie County

Storms near this property

34 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Milan, the town this property stands in, in 34 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 17 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 3 flood, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$750,000	Strong thunderstorm winds estimated to 70 miles per hour produced widespread damage in Milan. An estimated one thousand or more trees were downed in the area and the roofs of the town hall and police station were badly damaged.
September 2000	Tornado (F2)	Milan	$175,000	A tornado touched down north of Monroeville in Huron County and traveled east along State Route 113 into southern Erie County. The tornado dissipated near the corner of Higbee and Livengood Roads after destroying a farm house. The destroyed house was ripped from its foundation, moved 40 feet and knocked over. A second house and a small barn were also slightly damaged. The tornado traveled approximately one mile in Erie County and had a damage path about 100 yards wide. Debris from the homes was thrown well outside the damage path which was clearly visible through corn fields. Ears of corn were shucked, apparently by the tornado and some ears had many kernels removed. Several dozen trees were downed along the damage path.
May 2011	Hail	Milan	$125,000	Thunderstorms produced golf ball size hail. The large hail damaged numerous vehicles.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$100,000	Several buildings in downtown Milan either had their roofs blown off or had significant roof damage. This report was a picture from Facebook.
July 2013	Flash Flood	Milan	$100,000	The towns of Milan, Oxford, and Groton townships were the most impacated by the heavy rains of July 10th. Doppler radar estimates between 3 and 4 inches of rain fell within an hour and a half with strong storms that moved through Erie County. Flooding was so widespread that local and county officials were advising the public to stay off the roads. The major thru ways of Ohio 113, Ohio 99, and U.S. 250 were closed. Drivers trying to circumvent the area were left with few options, as most of the surrounding roads had varying degrees of flooding. Portions of Patten Tract, Mason, Strecker, Ransom, Thomas and Kelley roads were overrun with pools of inches-deep water. A few homes were inundated in the first floor by flood waters, but the majority of the home flood damage was the result of basement flooding.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$40,000	Thunderstorm winds tore the roof off of a barn located three miles northwest of Milan on Thomas Road in Oxford Township. Several nearby outbuildings were also damaged.
April 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$35,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. One of the trees landed on a house and caused significant damage.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$25,000	Thunderstorm winds downed many trees. At least a couple of roads were blocked by fallen trees.
November 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$25,000	Thunderstorm winds toppled five power poles along U.S. Route 250 north of Milan between Mason Road and State Route 13.
October 2012	Flood	Milan	$15,000	The small community called Franklin Flats located along the Huron River in western Milan is frequently inundated during times of flood. During Superstorm Sandy the Huron River reached major flood stage at 21 feet during the night of the 30th. At this stage the river inundated Franklin Flats community with about 2 feet of water. Being flood prone, the homes are elevated and citizens in the area moved valuable property out of the flood zone prior to the inundation. The property damage was minimal as a result.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$10,000	Numerous trees were either blown down or snapped halfway up on the trunks around the Milan area. There were numerous power lines blown down.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds downed two trees and several large limbs.
June 1998	Lightning	Milan	$10,000	Lightning struck the town hall clock tower, destroying the tower and the clock and cracking the town bell.
November 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed one tree and several large limbs five miles north of Milan.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed two trees.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$3,000	no account filed
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$2,000	A few trees were reported down.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree which blocked the road.
April 2013	Hail	Milan	$1,000	Law enforcement reported quarter size hail near Milan.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	-	Several tree branches downed in Milan.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	-	Two-foot diameter tree snapped in half about four-miles north of Milan.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	-	A large tree was blown down across State Route 13.
January 2018	Flood	Milan	-	At 910 AM EST, Erie Emergency Management reported an ice jam along the Huron River at Franklin Flats in Milan. The water backed up to Route 250. Ice was 8 inches thick.
July 2013	Hail	Milan	-	Penny to quarter sized hail was observed.
September 2012	Hail	Milan	-	Penny sized hail was reported.
May 2010	Hail	Milan	-	Nickel sized hail was observed.
August 2007	Flood	Milan	-	Heavy rain that fell across the area during the morning hours of the 20th quickly filled streams and rivers across the area. At 9 am on the 20th, the Huron River at Milan was 7.74 feet. As the morning progressed, the river rose between two and three feet per hour until it rose above the flood stage of 18 feet during the afternoon. The river continued to rise through the evening hours, and crested at 22.7 feet at around 10:45 pm. Through the overnight hours into the 21st, the river gradually fell, but did not drop below flood stage until the late morning hours of the 21st.
April 2006	Hail	Milan	-	Penny size hail was observed.
April 2006	Hail	Milan	-	Penny size hail was observed.
April 2004	Hail	Milan	-	Penny size hail was observed.
July 2001	Hail	Milan	-	Dime size hail was reported three miles north of Milan.
July 2001	Hail	Milan	-	Dime size hail was reported.
June 1999	Flash Flood	Milan	-	A railroad underpass was flooded in Milan from thunderstorm rains. Occupants of the car were temporarily trapped inside their vehicle.
April 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Milan	-	A tree was downed across Route 113. Large limbs were downed.

Every storm recorded in Erie County

Maps showing this location

6 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1904 USGS Sandusky quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1956 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1959 USGS Milan quadrangle1:24000
1961 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
1969 USGS Milan quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1986 USGS Lorain quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Milan Historic District	under 500 feet	1975
J. C. Lockwood House	under 500 feet	1974
Jenkins-Perry House	0.3 miles	1974
Mitchell Historic District	0.4 miles	1975
Ebenezer Andrews House	0.7 miles	1974
Abbott-Page House	2.8 miles	1975

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 66000608 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Erie County	All 181 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.