- Samuel Thompson, leader of the first party to arrive in Dayton on April 1, 1796, died of drowning in the Mad River in 1827.
- Dayton’s first fatality by accident was John Davis in 1799. He was chopping ice from around the water wheel of Daniel Cooper’s corn cracker mill when the wheel suddenly started, sucking him under and subsequently crushing him to death.
- George Newcom, one of the best-known members of the first families in Dayton, built the first tavern in Dayton, which was also the first two story house, the first “seat of justice” and the social center of town. Church services were sometimes held in the tavern. Newcom also served for five years as the first sheriff of Dayton then eight years in the Ohio Senate.
- George’s brother William Newcom (Sara’s several times great grandfather) served in the War of 1812 and died as a result of exposure to cold weather.
Category Archives: Dayton Fun Facts
The Kettering Bug – The World’s First Drone
In 1917, the US Army asked Charles F. Kettering to design an unmanned “flying machine” which could hit a target from 40 miles away. Kettering designed the Kettering Aerial Torpedo (later known as the Kettering Bug) and it was built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, with Orville Wright acting as the aeronautical consultant on the project. The Kettering Bug was a predecessor of today’s cruise missiles and UAVs.
Launched using a dolly-and-track system (similar to how the first flight was launched), the Bug was capable of striking targets up to 75 miles away and could travel at speeds of 50 miles per hour. The Bug consisted of an engine, fuselage, and wings and cost about $400 each to produce. The fuselage was made out of papier-mache and wood laminates, and the wings were built out of cardboard. The Bug also had a small onboard gyroscope to guide the Bug to its target.
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Phil the Werewolf
Recently the City of Piqua asked Halloween Loving Mary Simmon’s to take down her “seasonal wolf decoration”. The statue, which Mary named Phil, is a 10-foot werewolf statue Mary didn’t take down after Halloween.
Although most of her neighbors and the commenters online love the statue and want it to stay, a few complainers have reported her to the city. The complaints prompted the notice, but Piqua has also said that Simmons can keep Phil up if she wants.
To continue with the “seasonal” label, Simmons is looking into dressing Phil for holidays, including a Thanksgiving outfit.
Dayton Facts
- Stivers School for the Arts was named for Civil War Veteran, Captain Charles Bryan Stivers, who later became a school principal.
- Hedgeapple plants (aka Osage orange trees) were planted in the 1820s in Bellbrook as fences. A salesman came to Bellbrook and sold them to the farmers and pioneers, touting their ability to keep the cattle in and the hardness of the wood to make wheel spokes.
- Middletown was named because its founder, Daniel Doty, estimated it was roughly equidistant between Cincinnati and Dayton.
- Bellbrook Magnetic Springs was once considered to be a magic spot. Legend is that the native Americans believed the water was medicinal and came from all around to drink it. A similar legend holds in Yellow Springs, and it is believed the Yellow Spring water attracts supernatural energy. Maybe that’s why Bellbrook has so many hauntings?
- The oldest known grave in Miami Valley is Henry Stettler, who died January 28, 1791.
More Street Names:
- Broadwell — Silas Broadwell, a town marshal.
- Chickahominy and Chickamauga Avenues — both are named for Civil War battles.
- Master Avenue – Named for the Master Electric Company
- The popular angel monument at Woodland is the grave of Asa McMillan, who operated a wool manufacturing company. The McMillAn Angel base and cross were carved from Dayton Limestone and the angel was sculpted in Italy from Carerra Marble. The right arm is resting on a stone slab and a rag in her left hand to symbolize wiping a slate clean after death and past sins are forgiven.
- During excavation at Research Park for a DP&L building, the remains of two people were discovered. The coroner and an archeological firm were called out to investigate. An estimated 75 bodies were buried at the location, which is believed to be the site of a 19th century Shaker cemetery, as the Shakers once lived on that section of land.
Another Glimpse of Dayton in the Early 1800s
Another glimpse into life in the 1800s. This time, it’s missing sheep! This article appeared in The Western Spy (Cincinnati) on August 22, 1812!
A Glimpse of Dayton in 1934
As you know, sometimes in our research, we find an interesting article that isn’t enough for a full story, but we still want to share. Here is an article published on August 18, 1934, in the New York Times.
Peter Sunderland
Samuel Spencer born on April 14th, 1698 in Yorkshire England. Born to the 3rd Earl of Sunderland Charles and his commoner wife Judith, Samuel was not entitled to any inheritance or title due to his mother’s status. This led Samuel and his family to immigrate to the United States in 1737 with his children, including son William. The family all took on the surname Sunderland upon their arrival in the United States. In 1770, William Sunderland married Sarah Barraclough in Burlington County, New Jersey. William and Sarah eventually came to Ohio in 1795 along with their 18-year-old son, Peter.
Peter went on to live a storied life in Centerville.
- In 1799, Peter Sunderland married Nancy Robbins, the daughter of one of Centerville’s founders, Benjamin Robbins in what was the first wedding ceremony to be performed in Washington Township.
- In 1802, Peter and his brother Richard bore witness to the first will filed in Montgomery County.
- In 1803, Peter was the defendant/perpetrator in the first court case in Montgomery County, for assault and battery on a man named Benjamin Scott. The case was held on the upper floor of Newcom’s Tavern. He pled guilt and was fined $6. A year later Scott and Sunderland were back in court, but this time Scott was convicted.
- Sunderland served in the War of 1812.
- Around 1820, a stone house was built on Alex-Bell Road (where Fortis College and Cross Pointe Shopping Center are now). The house had a secret hiding place which was used as part of the Underground Railroad.
- In 1826, a slave from Kentucky known as “Black John” took refuge in the Sunderland house. When a group of men came to “reclaim” John, Peter threatened them and yelled for Black John to escape. Black John ran into the nearby woods and disappeared.
- After hearing a rumor of an Indian uprising, Peter built a large stone springhouse on his property to protect the area. When the land was being cleared in the early 1980s for development, the spring house was rediscovered and subsequently dismantled and reassembled in Stubb’s Park.
Peter Sunderland died October 2, 1841 at the age of 67 years old. He is buried in the Sugar Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Centerville along with his father, mother, and wife.
The Bride Who Thought She Was a Widow
This 1913 flood account first appeared in the Dayton Daily News on March 25, 1962.
Bride Spent Many Hours Thinking She Was A Widow
By MRS. FRANK SEILER
659 Carlisle Ave.
Next Nov. 20, my husband, Frank, and I will celebrate our golden wedding anniversary. But for several hours on Tuesday, Mar. 25, 1913, I would not have believed that we would have that first anniversary together.I thought that I had been widowed after four months of marriage, that my husband had drowned in the terrible flood that hit Dayton.
On the night before that disastrous day we had walked the short distance to the river from our apartment house on Washington St. to view the rising waters.
But we weren’t too alarmed as the newspapers that day had said that Dayton would be “protected by the levies which the city’s wise forefathers had built.”
But the next morning, the water had reached the first step leading into our apartment house.
My 15-year-old brother, Bill Fette, was visiting us from Cincinnati.
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Happy 227th birthday, Dayton!
On April 1st 1796, Dayton was founded by the Thompson Party! Happy 227th birthday, Dayton!
The 100th Birthday of MSgt. Richard Gard
Family and friends of Master Sergeant Richard Gard are asking for help honoring him for his upcoming 100th birthday. They are collecting cards to present to him on his birthday, coming up on April 6th.
Master Sergeant Gard landed on Normandy on D-Day and participated in the breakout from the beachhead through France to Brest. Gard was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Battle of the Bulge. He also earned two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, and decorations from Bastogne, Belgium, and France.
After Master Sergeant was recalled to active duty for the Korean War in 1950, he earned a degree in Engineering from UD.
A parade in his honor will be held on April 6, starting on Pearhill Drive in West Carrollton. The parade will feature Centerville VFW Post 9550, West Carrollton Police and Fire departments, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Harold Schnell Elementary, West Carrollton Marching Band, and a flyover from a 1943 PT-19A Cornell warplane by the Butler County Warbirds.
To wish Master Sergeant Gard a happy birthday, please send cards to this address:
MSgt. Richard Gard
c/o 70 Pine Street
Franklin, Ohio 45005.
For more of MSgt Gard’s story, check out this story by Dayton Daily News!
Dayton Unknown 