Thomas Edison had created the first industrial laboratory concerned with creating knowledge and then controlling its application. Edison's name is registered on 1,093 patents. Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention that first gained him wider notice was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," New Jersey. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder. Despite its limited sound quality and that
Menlo Park, California Cruz Avenue is considered the heart of the city. Nearby, the Menlo Park Civic center is bounded by Ravenswood Avenue, Alma Street, Laurel Street and Burgess Drive. It contains the council offices, library, police station and "Burgess Park" which has various recreational facilities. Other major roads include Sand Hill Road in the Sharon Heights area. The residential areas of Menlo Park are unofficially divided into several neighborhoods. Belle Haven is the only neighborhood east of the Bayshore Freeway; much of the rest of that area is business or protected land. Between Middlefield road (a road almost parallel to Bayshore) and