Category Archives: Dayton Fun Facts

Even More Street and Bridge Honorary Designations

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This list is thanks to the book Hidden History by Tony Kroeger, with a small amount of Googling on our part.

  • Walter J. Hickman Sr. Avenue (Brooklyn Avenue) – Hickman was a respected neighborhood leader in the Westwood area, where Brooklyn Avenue is located.
  • Pastor S. N. Winston Sr. Way (Siebenthaler Road) – Winston was a pastor at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church for 46 years.
  • Lloyd Lewis Jr. Way (Ludlow Street) – Lewis was a city of Dayton Assistant City Manager, City Commissioner, State Representative, an executive at Rike’s, and VP at DP&L.
  • Willis “Bing” Davis Way (Diamond Avenue) – Davis is a renowned artist who grew up on Diamond Avenue.
  • Peace Bridge (Third Street bridge) – Connects two sides of the Great Miami River
  • Sergeant Edward Brooks Way (Elmhurst Drive) – Brooks was killed at age 25 by an IED in Iraq, on August 29, 2007.
  • Ted Mills Way (Sears Street) – Mills had a baseball school location on Sears Street.

1914 Dayton Ghost Stories – The Ghost at the Mill

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On Sunday January 18th, 1914, The Dayton Daily News published a contest for Ghost Stories to be submitted, with prizes ranging from $1 to the grand prize of $20.

We have five of these stories to share with you. The first is The Ghost at the Mill, which was published January 26, 1914.

Reverend Desoto Bass

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Maybe you’ve heard of the DeSoto Bass apartment complex, known as “the Bass” But do you know how it got its name?

Reverend DeSoto Bass became the pastor of the Dayton First Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1895. The church was known for its abolitionist stance against slavery. Bass served at the church for thirty four years, until his death in 1928.

Bass was known for being “the community’s pastor” because of his devotion to serving the community. He aimed to serve mankind. Bass visited the sick regardless of religion or creed, both in their homes and through regular visits to Miami Valley and St. Elizabeth. Because of his service to the community the first public housing development in Dayton was named for him.

The development opened in February 1940 to house 200 low income families and two years later was expanded to house 110 more families. Over the next few years, 640 more units were added. At the end of WWII, veterans were housed there as emergency housing and within the next few years fifty-five more units were added, bringing the total amount to 1,005 units.

Source

A Glimpse of Dayton in the Early 1800s

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Sometimes in our research, we find some interesting tidbits that aren’t enough for a full story, but we would like to share. Here are three articles from the early 1800s that give a glimpse of life back then. Two missing horses, and a tract of land for sale.

Published in the Western Spy and Miami Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio) on October 10, 1804.

Published in the Western Spy and Miami Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio) on December 25, 1805.

Published in the Western Spy and Miami Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio) on February 1, 1808.

It’s Our 9th Anniversary!

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On January 27th, 2014, Dayton Unknown shared our very first post. Since then…

Most Popular Story: Hills and Dales Lookout Tower: The REAL Story
Sara’s Favorite Story: The Chinese Tong Murder
Bethany’s Favorite Story: General Richard Montgomery

We are so excited to see what the future holds for us!

As always, if you have any story ideas or questions you’d like us to look into, please let us know! There are so many ways to contact us – leave a comment down below, via the Contact Us page, send an email (daytonunknown@hotmail.com), send a message on Facebook or Instagram (@daytonunknown), etc.

More Street and Bridge Honorary Designations

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This list is thanks to the book Hidden History by Tony Kroeger, with a small amount of Googling on our part.

  • Chuck Whalen Lane (L Street) – Whalen was a UD graduate who went on to serve as a US Representative
  • Local 696 Way (Alwildy Drive) – United Auto Workers Local 696 has an HQ building on Alwildy, which was designated by Paul Deneau in 1965.
  • Bishop John H. Mathews Jr. Way (College Street) – Mathews was a pastor of Mount Zion Church.
  • Keith A Byars Sr. Way (Hoover Avenue) – Byars is a Dayton native who played in the NFL for 13 seasons as fullback and tight end. He played seven seasons for the Eagles, made the Pro Bowl in 1993 with the Dolphins, then SuperBowl XXXI with the New England Patriots.
  • Commissioner Richard a Zimmer Memorial Bridge (Findlay Street Bridge) – Zimmer was a Dayton City Commissioner for 21 years.
  • Dean Lovelace Drive (Madden Hills) – Lovelace was a Dayton City Commissioner.
  • Martin Bayless Drive (Enroe Drive) – Bayless is a Dayton native who played in the NFL for 13 seasons for: St Louis Cardinals; Buffalo Bills; San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Washington Redskins. He is now a Director of Player Development and General Manager at Brevard College.

General Richard Montgomery

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When Sara realized that she had lived here her entire life, and didn’t know who Dayton was named after, she had the idea for Dayton Unknown. Yet it never occurred to us that we didn’t know who Montgomery County is named after until Bethany was at a stoplight one day and read the fun fact printed on the RTA bus next to her.

Street and Bridge Honorary Designations

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Perhaps you’ve seen the blue street signs above the regular street signs with names on them. Did you recognize the names? Did you wonder who they were or what they did? Here’s a list of many from around the Dayton area.

This list is thanks to the book Hidden History by Tony Kroeger, with a small amount of Googling on our part.

  • Page E. Gray Jr. Way (Liscum Drive) – Gray was the first African American to hold a position other than custodian at NCR. He was a parts inspector and later became an assistant design engineer during the 1960s.
  • Mick Montgomery Way (Patterson Boulevard) – Montgomery owned Canal Street Tavern.
  • Betsy B. Whitney Way (Wilkinson Street) – Whitney was a philanthropist and volunteered for many causes, including the YWCA, which is located on Wilkinson.
  • Paul Deneau Way (Fourth Street) – Deneau was an architect of several Dayton buildings, such as the Grant-Deneau Tower at 40 W. Fourth Street and the Lakewoods Tower at 980 Wilmington Avenue.
  • Ambassador Richard Holbrooke Memorial Bridge (Salem Avenue bridge) – Holbrooke was an American diplomat and a leader in the development of the Dayton Accords in 1995, which helped bring an end to the war in Bosnia.
  • Erma Bombeck Way (Brown and Warren Streets) – Bombeck was a writer whose humorous column and books were widely read. Bombeck grew up in Dayton and is buried at Woodland Cemetery.
  • Mike Schmidt Parkway (Riverside Drive) – Schmidt played in Major League Baseball for eighteen seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was three-time MVP and 12-time All-Star. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

More Wright Brothers Facts

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Here are a few more interesting facts you may not know about the Wright Brothers!

  • The first woman to fly was Mrs. Hart O Berg. Mrs. Berg and her husband often accompanied Wilbur to various flying fields where he demonstrated his machine.
  • The first flight in Dayton occurred on September 22nd, 1910, as part of Aviation Day in Dayton. Orville flew from Huffman Prairie Flying Field in a Wright Model B flying machine. He circled the city and returned to the starting point. There were over 100,000 people to witness the flight, which lasted 33 minutes and spanned 25 miles.
  • After achieving the first flight on December 17th, 1903, Wilbur and Orville’s brother Lorin presented the story to Dayton Journal representative Frank Tunison. Tunison blew off the story, stating that a 19 second flight was not newsworthy. The first story to be run was an inaccurate piece which appeared in the Virginian Pilot and was reprinted in the Cincinnati Enquirer and the New York American. Later that day, Dayton Daily News ran an accurate story of the flight, and the Dayton Herald summarized the inaccurate version. The brothers’ flight finally made the pages of the Dayton Journal on December 19th.