Sites devoted to Wilbur and Orville Wright as well as other famous residents reveal the city’s rich history.
By Anna Lee Braunstein, F351629
October 2016
Dayton, Ohio, has a secret and it affects all of us. It is one of the most innovative cities in the country. While the airplane may be the most famous invention by Daytonians, many of their lesser-known creations also affect our daily life. Common items such as pull-top beverage cans and cash registers join automobile starters and a human heart-lung machine as being invented there. Dayton pays tribute to some of these inventors in several excellent museums.
Dayton’s most famous native sons are brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Their story is told at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. This park and other aviation-related sites mentioned below are part of the National Aviation Heritage Area, designated by Congress in 2004 to recognize the Dayton area’s contributions to aviation.
As kids, the Wright boys’ curiosity about flight was sparked when their father brought home a toy wooden gyrocopter. But first they had to make a living. While still in high school, they started a printing business. Then, like many other Dayton businessmen, they noted the growing popularity of bicycles and added those items to their enterprise. Their first shop, the Wright Cycle Company, is a good place to start a tour of this extensive park. It has some of the original machines used to make their popular bicycles.
Near the turn of the 20th century, powered flight became the young men’s obsession. They faced and solved a host of problems, such as how to stay airborne, how to turn and control the craft, how to handle wind shifts, and how to start the flight. Exhibits show their progress, failures, and ultimate success. In 1905, after much trial and error, Orville flew for almost 40 minutes above an awestruck crowd. One witness, a Mr. Stauffer, said, “That durn thing kept going round and round.” After that flight, the brothers applied for and got their patents, and the rest of their story is shown in more exhibits.
The historical park also includes the Paul Laurence Dunbar Historic Site, which tells the story of the writer and poet. A high school classmate of Orville’s, Dunbar was a son of former slaves. The only job he could find was as an elevator operator, but he devoted his spare time to his writing career, which included editing the African-American newspaper The Dayton Tattler. He rose to literary prominence with his poetry of life as an African-American. Before his death at age 33, he was honored by riding in a parade with President William McKinley. Dunbar’s home is open for tours.
A separate parachute museum is located at the Aviation Trail Inc. Visitor Center. Although the parachute was not invented in Dayton, the manually activated free-fall parachute was developed and first used at Dayton’s McCook Field. This museum holds the private parachute collection of parachute enthusiast David Gold.
Displays show the history of humans descending from the clouds, as first imagined by Leonardo da Vinci. The museum chronicles the development of the free-fall parachute in Dayton after World War I through stunt and military jumps to the landing of a cargo container on Mars in 2007.
Mechanized flight required open space with good winds. At first the Wright brothers went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for their tests, and later they began flights in Dayton at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. To walk where they flew, drive to Huffman Field and see the replica of the catapult they used to launch the planes. A trail, with information boards, leads through the fields where spectators held their breath as the Wrights tested their ideas and flew their aircraft.
Hawthorne Hill, in Oakwood, is a mansion the brothers planned together. Unfortunately, Wilbur died in 1912; it was completed in 1914. Orville lived there with his father, Milton, and sister, Katharine. Today a limited number of tours are available to see this lovely home where Orville greeted famous guests and continued to work on more innovations.
Carillon Historical Park tells about yet more of Dayton’s famous innovators. Among them are John H. Patterson, founder of National Cash Register (NCR); Edward A. Deeds, chairman of NCR and founder of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco); and Charles F. Kettering, inventor of the electric self-starter. These men were at the forefront of the new industrial revolution that swept America in the early 20th century. The legacy of the companies they created continues today.
Start in the Kettering Family Education Center with We Progress Through Change, an animatronic theater presentation. Replicas of the key figures, presented in 4-D, tell stories of forming the Barn Gang, a group that came up with new ideas for a new century. Be prepared for a couple of surprises during the presentation.
Outside in the park, with the Deeds Carillon chiming in the background, follow the trail back to the late 19th and early 20th century to see what the creative minds in Dayton were developing. Thirty-six buildings and structures, including a school, homes, and shops, show what the town was like back then. In a 19th-century print shop, docents demonstrate the process used by the Wrights.
Orville Wright helped design the building that displays the Wright Flyer III, the first practical airplane. The Great 1913 Flood Exhibit Building shows not only the devastation suffered in Dayton but also the role leading industrialists played in recovery and flood prevention. Train engines and railcars from glory days of rail travel fill the James F. Dicke Family Transportation Center. Saturday afternoon rides on a 1/8-scale railroad are family fun.
Back inside the Education Center, visitors can discover all the products developed in Dayton. One room is full of antique brass cash registers made by NCR. Other familiar products cram shelves.
Beer, another Dayton product, is brewed the old-fashioned way. At the park’s Carillon Brewing Company, diners can enjoy flights of beer and a delicious lunch or dinner. This is reportedly the nation’s only brewery in a museum, and it re-creates brews made by German immigrants back in the 1850s.
Daytonians did not invent the automobile, but the town honors a luxury model at America’s Packard Museum — the Citizens Motor Car Company. This collection is in a former Packard dealership that opened in 1917. Although other high-priced car names are more remembered today, Packard was the top producer of luxury cars in the early 20th century. The company slogan was “Ask a man who owns one.” Celebrities such as Al Jolson, Clark Gable, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Salvatore “Lucky” Luciano all felt they had to own one.
More than 50 cars built in various decades await admiration in the art-deco-style showroom, service department, and adjacent pavilion. Videos in the various restored offices tell the history of the Packard; personal stories of current owners of these treasured cars; and even how to train to be a Packard salesman.
So many planes, a few trains, and beautiful automobiles await visitors to Dayton. When you are in town, be sure to expand your horizons by considering the inventions and innovations created there.
Further Info
Dayton Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 221-8235
(937) 226-8211