February 11, 1847 Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11. Edison would become the most prolific American inventor and marketer of inventions, most of which were developed in New Jersey, initially in Menlo Park and later in his West Orange laboratories.
February 11, 1861 America’s first kindergarten class was opened at the Hoboken Academy by Dr. Alfred Douai, the Academy’s principal. Kindergarten was a German concept, and representatives of the large German-American community in Hoboken had appointed Douai as the Academy’s principal.
February 11, 1877 Mabel Smith Douglass, educator, founder and first dean of the New Jersey College for Women (later Douglass College), was born in Jersey City.
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February 11, 1938 A 131-foot Art Deco tower erected in honor of Thomas Edison in Menlo Park (in today’s Edison Township) was dedicated. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
