Thomas Edison's Quest for Rubber | Untold Stories | Florida History

In 1927, Thomas Edison, the "wizard" of electricity, began searching for a domestic source of rubber to protect Americans from foreign control of this vital commodity. The eighty-year-old inventor experimented with thousands of plants on his Fort Myers, Florida estate, eventually selecting goldenrod as the most promising source of rubber. The sunshine state has a rich and colorful history. For hundreds of years the state has attracted dreamers, opportunists, inventors and fortune-seekers. WGCU's Untold Stories aims to preserve the history of Southwest Florida communities. Visit us online at: https://www.wgcu.org Follow us! Facebook:   / wgcupublicmedia   Twitter:   / wgcu   Instagram:   / wgcupublicmedia   The Wizard's Laboratory: Thomas Edison's Quest for Rubber | Untold Stories | Florida History WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida #UntoldStories #WGCU #FloridaSeminoles