Officials look for ways
to preserve Edison tower
BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer

EDISON — Officials have taken another step to preserve township history.

Township Council members agreed last month to put a question on the November ballot asking voters if they approve of spending 25 percent of the 1-cent dedicated open space tax for historic preservation.

Now another means of preservation is being explored.

If voters approve spending that portion of the tax on preserving history, most of the money will go toward fixing the crumbling Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower.

The 131-foot-tall tower, located in the Menlo Park section of Roosevelt Park, is the town’s historical centerpiece.

The inventor had his laboratories in the park and hatched his hallmark inventions, such as the light bulb and recorded sound, on the site.

One more measure to preserve the past could not hurt, officials said.

The council introduced three ordinances at the Aug. 25 meeting. Each ordinance, if adopted, would declare three separate structures are in the township’s historic preservation zones.

The structures are the Clara Barton School, Marconnier Union Chapel (Edison Valley Playhouse) and the memorial tower.

Councilman Charles Tomaro, the council’s liaison to the Open Space Committee, has spearheaded the fight to preserve the tower.

The historic-zone designation will help. But it is not the answer to the dilapidated structure’s problems, Tomaro said.

The bottom line is that it needs to be "fixed," he said.

All three ordinances would mandate that the structures be preserved to match their original state.

In order to ensure the proper preservation, experts and township historical commission members would have to approve any work done.

The structures are public ones, which makes the measure more agreeable, officials said.