If you’re familiar with Dayton, you might wonder about some of the names of local streets.

Here are a few!

• Soldier’s Home Road – named for the Soldier’s Home that was formerly in Dayton
• Backus – Joseph Backus, former Dayton street commissioner




• Eaton Avenue – Lead to the Eaton Pike, later the road was renamed to McCall.




• Brown Street –Named for Thomas Brown, a building contractor who started a brick yard between (present day) Brown Street and Wayne Avenue. He hauled the brick to the city via what is now Brown Street, which is how the street was named.




• Yale, Oxford, Harvard, Otterbein, Wittenberg – Named for colleges




• Sawmill & Stonemill – These two mills were upon the Patterson farm, run by water from Rubicon Creek, the sawmill was located where the NCR lumber yard is now, while the stonemill was east of Main and was a fulling mill.




• Mary – Reuben Mumma was a florist at Main & Ridge and named the first street running to the river for his wife, Mary, the next one for himself Reuben, later changed to Burton, the third one Drake, his wife’s maiden name and the fourth the family name Mumma.




• Booher Lane – Jesse Booher, a saw filer who had a big reputation as a fancy ice skater




• Conover – named for attorney Harvey Conover




• Argonne – Named for the Battle of the Argonne Forest in France.




• Washington, Adams, and Madison – Named for the presidents




• Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Logan – Named in honor of Indian Chiefs