Author Archives: daytonunknown

Fun Facts about Dayton – Part 3

Posted on by
Here’s some more fun facts about Dayton we’ve learned during our research:

  •  The Private Fair statue on Main Street just south of Monument Avenue in downtown was almost a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, but ex-Civil War soldiers protested, and requested the goddess instead be a statue of a soldier. Private George Washington Fair of Dayton was the model for the statue, which was erected in 1884 – the original location at the intersection of Main and Monument.

  • The statue of President McKinley in Cooper Park (behind the Dayton Library on Third Street and St. Clair) was built from funds raised and donated by local schoolchildren.

    • Continue reading →

Local Street Names – Part 3

Posted on by
Time for more Dayton street name origins!

  • Ashley Street: Ashley Brown, son-in-law of Colonel Robert Patterson.

  • Schantz Road: Named for Adam Schantz, local brewer.

  • Spinning Road: Isaac Spinning, a Colonel in the Revolutionary War, and a judge in Dayton.

    • Continue reading →

Ay Caramba! Nancy Cartwright – the Voice of Kettering

Posted on by
If you talk to the right people in Kettering, they can tell you their personal accounts of knowing Nancy Cartwright, including my middle school history teacher, whose claim to fame was that the voice of Bart Simpson used to be his babysitter and Bethany’s drama teacher teaching Nancy in high school.

20140701_174449

Seen in Old North Dayton

Continue reading →

Dayton Inventions – Part 1

Posted on by
It is well-known that Dayton is a center for innovation. Here are a few examples of some inventions that have come from our great city:

  • Cash Register – James and John Ritty, 1870.

  • First Practical Airplane – Wright Brothers, 1903.

  • Automobile Self-starter: Charles F. Kettering, 1911.

  • Leaded Gasoline – Thomas Midgley Jr., 1921.

  • Mae West Life Preserver – Frank G. Manson, 1938.

    • Continue reading →

Tony Stein – Dayton’s Superhero

Posted on by

No greater person could be featured for July 4th.

Corporal Tony Stein

The only Daytonian to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor for WWII and the first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for Iwo Jima, Tony Stein still does not get enough credit.

Continue reading →

Charlotte Reeve Conover – Dayton Historian

Posted on by

“Mrs. Conover was Dayton’s outstanding historian. Her manifold writings about Dayton and its people have place on bookshelves far and wide…” —Dayton Daily News, September 1940.

Charlotte was born to Doctor John Charles and Emma Reeve in 1855. She was given a stellar education from the start, even traveling to Geneva, Switzerland after completing high school. Marrying Frank Conover and raising 4 children did not stop Charlotte from traveling, studying, or writing.

In 1900, her first book, Some Dayton Saints and Prophets, was published. After that her writing didn’t stop. Charlotte also contributed writing to Ladies Home Journal, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper’s. She also became a French scholar, specializing in lectures about Molière.

Continue reading →

David’s Cemetery

Posted on by
Located at the corners of Mad River Road and David Road in Kettering, David’s Cemetery is one of the older cemeteries in the Dayton area. The cemetery was formed on land donated by local man, Christian Creager, in 1826 and recognized its first burial in 1831 — a young boy named Noah Darner. It was named after Rev. David Winters, the first preacher to serve the Dayton area.

DavidsCemeteryCollage

Continue reading →

Local Street Names – Part 2

Posted on by
Ever wondered who local streets are named after? Here’s a few!

  • Jefferson street – President Thomas Jefferson

  • Perry Street – Commodore Oliver H. Perry, who was considered the “Hero of the Battle of Lake Erie.”

  • Monument Avenue – Renamed from Water Street after the Private Fair statue was erected at the corner of Water and Main Streets in 1884.

    • Continue reading →