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An upright statue of Thomas Edison stands before the nation\u2019s largest banyan tree. This tree, planted in 1925, now encompasses nearly one complete acre. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
Entering the Edison Ford neighborhood within historic Old Fort Myers is like passing from everyday life, through the wardrobe in C.S. Lewis\u2019 beloved \u201cThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,\u201d into the magical land of Narnia. Edison Ford Park is the second-oldest subdivision in Fort Myers, located south of downtown along the east side of McGregor Boulevard. In April of 2026, Edison Park will celebrate its 100th Anniversary. Reminiscent of Lewis\u2019 mythical Narnia, the Edison Ford neighborhood sits bathed in soft speckled sunlight from early morning to late evening. Along the winding paths and curving roadways, shade flourishes. Florida\u2019s hot sun is tempered here by massive overhanging branches and shade. Like nearly every part of this storybook neighborhood, even the winding, meandering roadways are intentional.\n<\/p>\n
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Inside of the twin houses on the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Christmas decor has arrived a bit early. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
Cheri O\u2019Mailia has lived in Edison Park for nearly three decades. One of her neighbors, who preferred not to be named, fondly referred to O\u2019Mailia as a human time capsule. Inside her home, which was completed in 1940, the walls are adorned with historic photographs and pictures. And the walls displaying those artifacts? They are rock solid, quite literally formed from wire lathe and covered in concrete.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s a hurricane, people come to this house,\u201d O\u2019Mailia shared proudly, \u201cThe thick cement walls are sturdy and even cool to the touch.\u201d Hardy construction was central to the first Edison Park homes, with the oldest ones in the neighborhood being built around 1926.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWheeler Brothers Construction built these first homes,\u201d O\u2019Mailia said. \u201cThe contractors would sometimes throw a coin inside the walls before sealing them up. Years ago, when I was having a renovation done on my house, we opened up a wall and out popped a 1938 quarter!\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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Pictured is the backside of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. This view faces the roadway, while the front of the home overlooks the water. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mailia says she relishes the rich history of living within walking distance of the Edison Ford Winter Homes, which are adjacent to Edison Park and exist today as a non-profit where visitors may pay a fee to walk the grounds and view the historic structures. Prather\u2019s Laundry and Dry Cleaning was one of the neighborhood\u2019s original businesses, and O\u2019Mailia proudly displays a Prather\u2019s Laundry clothes hanger on a hook above her own washing machine.\n<\/p>\n
She confided, \u201cPeople give me relics from the neighborhood, because they know I\u2019ll hold onto them. I love everything about living here. We are surrounded by schools; it is very safe, and you can just get lost in here, winding around the roads.\u201d From the historic Prather\u2019s hanger to an original road sign and old kitchen tile, O\u2019Mailia\u2019s collection of stuff is a time capsule of Edison Park in the same way her brain is a time capsule of the area\u2019s stories.\n<\/p>\n
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Signs, like the one pictured, give visitors to the Edison and Ford Winter Homes historical information about the treasured property and its former owners. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
Michael Flanders is President and CEO of Edison and Ford Winter Estates. He has an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Florida, and a master\u2019s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech. For 37 years, Flanders has been a registered architect in the state of Florida. \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in the historic preservation of buildings,\u201d Flanders reminisced, \u201cand in the preservation of history in general.\u201d\u00a0 Flanders makes an important distinction between Thomas Edison and Henry Ford\u2019s fingerprints on Southwest Florida\u2019s most notable neighborhood. Flanders explained, \u201cEdison came to Fort Myers in 1885, and he was involved here for 20 years before Ford came and bought the house next to Edison\u2019s in 1910.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Thomas Edison was Edison Park\u2019s first father-of-influence, in an era that had not yet invented influencers. The neighborhood boasts massive trees, one gifted to him in 1925 by Harvey Firestone, which now provide respite from Southwest Florida\u2019s dogged summer sun. Like most collections, the history of Edison Park\u2019s collective green canopy began with a single tree. \u00a0Firestone planted the original banyan, hoping it would provide a means to naturally source rubber for tires. Instead, that single tree is now the largest banyan in the United States, covering nearly one complete acre on the grounds of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Flanders said the historic properties consist of 18 acres. While the Edison and Ford Winter Estates and Edison Park neighborhood both border McGregor Boulevard and overlook the Caloosahatchee River, the two entities are separate.\n<\/p>\n
While Thomas Edison\u2019s home was completed in 1886, Developer James Newton laid out the streets of Edison Park in the 1920s. 2026 will officially mark the neighborhood\u2019s one-hundredth year. \u201cA hundred years ago, curved streets were much more popular than they are today,\u201d Flanders explained. Hence, the whimsical roadways and passages where Cheri O\u2019Mailia discussed the opportunity for one to become \u201csafely lost.\u201d\u00a0 O\u2019Mailia also discussed her appreciation for a neighborhood full of schools, which was another intentional part of Newton\u2019s design. Additionally, Newton laid out the plan for a local hospital, which exists today as Lee Memorial Hospital on Cleveland Avenue.\n<\/p>\n
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Within the winding roads and pathways of Edison Park, whimsical doorways and cheerful front doors line the sleepy streets. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mailia\u2019s residence, and others like hers, are private homes. Inside one address on Marlyn Road, several walls are splashed in a decadent yellow \u2013 the color of lemon meringue. The heavy door leading into this home is turquoise today, but the door\u2019s owner pointed out a fleck of dusty blue peeking through the newish paint. He said he covered the dusty blue years ago, but scratches here and there reveal the door\u2019s original color. Edison Park boasts rows of homes with colorful and eclectic front doors. There is one soft pink door and several mahogany-colored entrances. Beyond the charismatic front doors are historic and often colorful rooms like the lemony music room from Myrtle Road\u2019s Mediterranean Villa. These private neighborhood homes remain closed to tourists, but the Edison and Ford Winter Estates are certainly available to visitors.\n<\/p>\n
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates are open daily, except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Outside of the homes is a nursery, gift shop and Edison\u2019s remarkable banyan tree. A statue of Thomas Edison stands before the banyan, a tree that seems to exist in lifetimes and layers. Because Thomas Edison was from Greenfield, Michigan, his original laboratory from the estate was dismantled and taken to Greenfield after Edison\u2019s death. O\u2019Mailia said Edison\u2019s wife, Mina, demanded that a load of dirt from Fort Myers be delivered to Greenfield, Michigan, so the reassembled laboratory would be built \u201con the same ground which it originally stood.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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Inside one of Edison Park\u2019s oldest Mediterranean style homes, this decadent yellow music room stands-out as the home\u2019s formal sitting area. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
2025 is the 50th Annual Edison and Ford Holiday Nights. The twin-houses, as Flanders referred to them, are now elaborately decorated for Christmas. A bright red amaryllis adorns one dining table. Tall Christmas trees \u2013 and short, thin Christmas trees alike \u2013 are covered with so many delicate balls that the trees simply dance in light. Poinsettia blooms rest atop the fireplace mantles. Beginning Nov. 28 and running through Jan. 4, 2026, visitors may purchase tickets to stroll the holiday-themed grounds. This year\u2019s theme is \u201cGolden Jubilee.\u201d\u00a0 For details, visit: www.fortmyersbeach.org<\/a> \u00a0or www.edisonfordwinterestates.org<\/a>\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An upright statue of Thomas Edison stands before the nation\u2019s largest banyan tree. This tree, planted in 1925,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-66154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}