Captain Alva Bradley

Alva Bradley was born in Connecticut in 1814, and moved with his family to Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, Ohio in 1823. At age 19, he began working on ships of the Great Lakes, and by 1839 he was in command of the schooner Commodore Lawrence. 

The famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison received his middle name in honor of Captain Bradley, as his parents Samuel and Nancy Edison were close friends. 

 In 1841 Captain Bradley, along with Ahira Cobb, built the ship the South America. He began building more ships, and by 1852 he gave up sailing in order to devote himself solely to constructing ships. The Bradley fleet of ships became the largest on the Great Lakes. W. Scott Robison wrote in his book History of the City of Cleveland, that Captain Bradley “owed his success entirely to his own efforts, to his Yankee grit and shrewd business sense.” Eventually Captain Bradley became a millionaire through his success as one of the Great Lakes’ best known ship owners. 

Alva Bradley married Helen Burgess, of Milan, in 1851. They had three daughters and one son. A grandson, also named Alva Bradley, was president of the group that owned the Cleveland Indians from 1927 until 1946.The younger Alva Bradley was successful in real estate, and served on the board of several businesses. 

  

Captain Alva Bradley and his family used to visit Lakeside during the summer months. After his death in 1885, his wife had the Bradley Temple built in Lakeside as a memorial to her husband, with the stipulation that it was to be used solely for children’s programs and Sunday School sessions.

Light’s Golden Jubilee in 1929

While Patent Number 223,898 was issued to Thomas A. Edison on January 27, 1880, the experiments done by Edison and his team in October of 1879 enabled the first practical commercial incandescent light bulb to become a reality. On October 21, 1929, Light’s Golden Jubilee was held in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas A. Edison’s improvements to the incandescent light bulb.

Sandusky’s Division Manager of the Ohio Public Service Company, C. B. Wilcox, pictured above, announced in the July 23, 1929 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, that Sandusky would pay tribute to the work of Thomas A. Edison by illuminating the fountain in Washington Park with a display of brightly colored lights. (This was before the Boy with the Boot made its home in Washington Park.) Employees of the Ohio Public Service Company were to install the special lighting display, which was to continue throughout the summer and fall months.

                            

A floral mound in the park also paid honor to Thomas A. Edison in 1929.

 

The Sandusky Star Journal of October 22, 1929 reported that hundreds of Sandusky residents sat at home by candle light or gas light, as they listened to the radio program in which Thomas A. Edison recreated his electric light over NBC Radio, at Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, where the Edison laboratory had been re-created. The reception during the program was exceptionally clear that October evening.

U.S. President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover as well as Henry Ford all took part in the Golden Jubilee of Light Celebration. Read more about Light’s Golden Jubilee at the websites of the Henry Ford Museum and the Library of Congress.

Thomas Edison’s Visit to Erie County

On August 11, 1923, Thomas Alva Edison visited his birthplace in Milan, Ohio. He was accompanied by Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Walker D. Hines. The group had recently attended the funeral of President Warren Harding in Marion, Ohio.

Judge Roy Williams, another former Milan resident, formally welcomed Thomas Edison. A crowd of two thousand people had gathered in Milan to get a glimpse of the famous inventor and his friends. A band played “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here.”
Judge Williams is pictured above, with two of the ladies from the first female jury in Erie County in 1920.

After visiting Milan, the men drove to Cedar Point, where they spent the night at the Hotel Breakers. On August 12, the men were dinner guests of Mrs. Edward Wheeler. As a boy, Thomas Edison had played with childhood friends at the Wheeler farm, which had been owned by Hiram Page during Edison’s youth. The Sandusky Register carried front page stories of the visit of Edison, Ford and Firestone on August 11 and August 12, 1923. Thomas Edison declined to address the crowd, saying “I’m too deaf to speak.” Henry Ford said “I’ve heard to so much talk that I don’t know what to say.” Harvey S. Firestone began his speech with: “Mrs. Firestone has all the hot air in our family. I’m no speaker, but upon this occasion I might say that I am here to reflect the glory of this occasion. I am proud to be known as a friend of the greatest man of the generation, Thomas A. Edison and as the friend of a benefactor of the nation, Henry Ford.”

The book Uncommon Friends, by James D. Newton, gives insight into the relationship of Thomas Edison with Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel, and Charles Lindbergh. This book is available for loan through the ClevNet Consortium.

On February 19, 1927, Thomas Edison once again was in the newspaper regarding his ties to Erie County. Edison had written to Erie County Auditor Fred W. Bauer, questioning why his property in Milan had been reappraised by thirty percent.

In 1929, a floral mound honored Thomas A. Edison in Washington Park.