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Edison beats Wright Bros.  in voting for Capitol statue

Committee will give  the public vote great weight in making its recommendation.

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Staff Writer 9:47 PM Wednesday, July 7, 2010

COLUMBUS — Ohioans chose light-bulb inventor Thomas Edison instead of the Wright brothers to represent the state in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Out of 37,000 votes cast over three months of voting, Edison snagged 12,132 votes while Wilbur and Orville grabbed 10,895. Former U.S. Rep. William McCulloch of Piqua came in a distant third among the 10 top nominees with 3,569 votes.

The National Statuary Collection Study Committee will give the public vote great weight when deciding which famous Ohioan should go to the U.S. Capitol. The committee will make its recommendation to the full Legislature.

The new statute, which is expected to be paid for with private donations, will replace former Gov. William Allen, whose pro-slavery, anti-Abraham Lincoln views are now seen as an embarrassment to Ohio. Ohio’s other Statuary Hall representative is President James Garfield. Each state gets two statues and the representatives must be deceased.

The Ohio Historical Society conducted voting from March 20 to June 12 at three dozen historical sites around the state and also accepted mailed and e-mailed ballots.

Edison was born in Milan, near Sandusky, but moved to Port Huron, Mich., as a young boy and did much of his inventing in New Jersey. He invented the phonograph, motion picture camera and electric light bulb and holds 1,093 U.S. patents.

The Wright Brothers are credited with inventing and building the first successful airplane. Wilbur was born in Indiana; Orville in Dayton. The brothers spent most of their lives in Dayton.

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