The main facade is five bays wide, with the entrance at the center, topped by a four-light transom window.

The sitting room, in which Edison was born, includes the bed in which his mother lay for the birth.

His son Thomas was born here in 1847, and it remained the family home until 1854, when they moved to Port Huron, Michigan.

The young Edison's early youth in Milan appears to have been unremarkable, the most notorious incident being his burning down a barn, described by one biographer as a "glorious experiment".

After Edison's death in 1931, his wife and daughter worked to transform the birthplace into a museum in his honor.