Our first stop was at a shop called Milan Inn-Tiques. This shop is in a building that was, for many years, a restaurant called The Milan Inn. In fact, it is where we had our rehearsal dinner before our wedding in 1982. At some point - I don't know how long ago, but it has been some years - the restaurant went out, and the building was taken over by a man named Tom Gfell. He filled the first floor with antiques and turned the second floor into a vacation rental apartment. On this visit, I was pleased to find a place to park right in front. We went in and started to browse, and about 10 minutes into our visit, the woman who was working there asked us if we knew about the statue coming to town? What? She went on to explain that the statue of Thomas Edison that had been made for display in the capitol building in Washington D.C. was coming to town. "How nice!" we commented - when will this happen? "Any minute now!" she replied.
For those of you who might not be aware - Milan is the birthplace of Thomas Edison! The birthplace is a museum and a big part of Milan's history. But I digress... back to the story...
We went outside, and there was the truck bringing the statue through town! We learned it was going to be placed in the library - right next door - for the summer. Here are some photos of what we saw:
Here is Milan Inn-tiques - right next to the library:
The man in the orange shirt, holding on to the statue on the truck is Don Gfell. He was the main driving force behind getting the Edison statue made and voted into its place in history in D.C.
Here he is speaking with a reporter:
Mr. Gfell was the superintendent of Milan Schools when I was in high school there - in 1977! Since he retired, he has had a shop in Milan which specializes in Edison antiques - specifically Edison phonographs and the parts for them. (Don is a brother of Tom, who owns the Inn-tiques.)
Here is a photo of the statue with the sculptor, Alan Cottrill:
Here is Tom in all his glory:
Ironically, they put the statue down right in the middle of a handicapped parking space, and of course, Tom had no handicapped hanger. Fortunately, they got him inside before he got a ticket!
Here is the banner hanging on the side of Milan Inn-tiques:
Right across the street from the Inn is the town square. In 1984, when my mother was president of the Milan Garden Club, she led the group in fund-raising for a statue of Edison's mother for the town square. The story that was always told at the birthplace was that young Tom didn't do well in school and kept getting sent home, so he was largely educated by this mother in his early years. As a tribute to her, the Garden Club raised the money for this statue:
Milan has always been all about promoting Thomas Edison - hence, the name of the high school I attended was Edison High School, and we were the Chargers (lightning bolt!) It has changed hands several times, but there has long been a restaurant just across from the side of the square called The Invention. It is getting ready to open soon under new ownership:
All of this was very exciting for me to see. We knew Mr. Gfell had worked tirelessly to get the statue approved for Ohio, but we had no idea the statue was going to get to be displayed in Milan before going to Washington D.C. The fact that we just happened to be there when it arrived was just incredible!
If you would like to learn more about the statue, here are links to some of the newspaper articles done about it (some include photos):
I have not been able to find a date when the statue will be moved from Milan to D.C., but I read one account that said September. There is also going to be a program about it in Milan on July 26.
So, there you go - some interesting history and a grand coincidence all rolled into one!
Thanks for reading!
Come back again soon for info and photos of our vacation to Vermilion!
:)Amy
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