Category Archives: Local Businesses

Upcoming Author Events for Sara

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It’s that time of year again for Sara to have a full schedule of speaking engagements and author events! Come out to see her.

  • Huber Haunts Halloween Festival
    October 4th, 4–8pm
    Scene 75
    6196 Poe Avenue, Dayton
  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends
    October 10, 10 am
    Dayton Metro Library – Southeast Branch
    21 Watervliet Avenue, Dayton
  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends
    October 15, 6:30 pm
    Dayton Metro Library – Main Branch
    215 East 3rd Street, Dayton
  • Fairborn Halloween Festival
    October 16–18, 4pm Oct 16 to 6pm Oct 18
    Downtown Fairborn
  • Behind Urban Legends
    October 26, 6 pm
    Dayton Metro Library – Vandalia Branch
    330 South Dixie Drive, Vandalia
  • Behind Urban Legends
    October 28, 6pm
    Charles Lathrem Senior Center
    2900 Glengarry Drive, Kettering
  • Behind Urban Legends
    October 30, 4 pm
    Dayton Metro Library – West Branch
    300 Abbey Avenue, Dayton
  • Behind Urban Legends
    November 12, 6 pm
    Dayton Metro Library – Northwest Branch
    2410 Philadelphia Drive, Dayton
  • Kettering Arts & Crafts Show
    November 14, 9am to 4pm
    Charles Lathrem Senior Center
    2900 Glengarry Drive, Kettering
  • Behind Urban Legends
    January 21, 6:30pm
    Dayton Metro Library – Main Branch
    215 East 3rd St, Dayton

Mr. Moler and His Worker Bees

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When Vandiver Moler came to Van Buren Township from Jefferson County West Virginia in 1823, the area was still considered primitive. Moler’s land was in section 17, township range 6. Exchanging work was the currency of choice for neighbors, and oftentimes Moler would set down his plow and head to his blacksmith shop to do a job for a neighbor. In exchange, that neighbor would pick up that plow and finish Moler’s field for him. Groups of neighbors would get together to do the harvest for another neighbor in what was called a “bee.” The community relied on bees for prosperity.

Just like any other member of the community, Mr Moler relied on and participated in these bees regularly. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was a firm opponent to the use of liquor during these bees, even offering 12½ cents more per day to men who would abstain from drink during that time. Eventually, he refused to hire help who used whiskey. His opponents were upset by this and declared they wouldn’t help him.

A stonemason named James Dean from Dayton heard about this and gathered a party to go harvest Moler’s wheat. When neighbors noticed the immaculate job Dean’s party did, they hired them as well to harvest their grain. Dean later found whiskey in one of the neighbor’s homes and promptly led his party back to Dayton, leaving the neighbor’s harvesting unfinished.

Source: Dayton Daily News, February 29, 1936

Upcoming Events – Summer/Fall 2026

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With Summer winding to a close, why not enjoy a few more festivals? Here’s a list of some upcoming events in the area:

  • August 14 – 16: Dayton Germanfest Picnic
  • August 14 – 20: Miami County Fair
  • August 15-16: Fairborn Sweet Corn Festival
  • August 15: Art in the City Dance Pop-up – Dayton Metro Library
  • August 15-16: Dayton African American Festival
  • August 29-30: Xenia Monster Truck Wars

Beaver’s Mini Mart vs Goliath  

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You’ve probably heard by now about the lawsuit Buc-ee’s filed against Beaver’s Mini Mart on Hanes Road in Beavercreek. Buc-ee’s claimed in the suit that Beaver’s Mini Mart’s Logo of a cartoon beaver would cause confusion for customers.

The nearest Buc-ee’s is 16 miles from the Beaver’s Mini Mart location in the middle of a city that has been using beaver iconography for decades via school mascots, team logos, business advertisements and more. The small convenience store has no gas pumps, no public bathrooms, and a logo that looks nothing similar.

Many want to help support this small business. Here are a few ways to do so:

  • Shop at their store – 1592 Hanes Road, Beavercreek, 45434
  • Support their GoFundMe
  • Buy Beaver Mini Mart shirts from CincyShirts.com
  • Buy Beaver Mini Mart Cookies from The Original Goodie Shop. Stop by their store at 2116 Tremont Center, Upper Arlington, 43221 or call 614-488-8777
  • Buy Beaver’s Mini Mart merch from Teepublic

Please note, there is a lot of misinformation going around about the ownership of the Beaver’s Mini Mart. We ask that you do your due dilligence and your own research before forming your opinion, or having a negative reaction to their plight.

Huffman Prairie

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Have you ever been to Huffman Prairie in Fairborn? After their first flight in Kitty Hawn, NC, the Wright brothers were in search of a flying field nearby. A banker from Dayton, Torrence Huffman, loaned his pasture to the Wright Brothers rent-free and this is where the Wright Brothers really developed their flying skills in 1904-1905.

Later in 1910, the Wright Brothers established the Wright Company and used Huffman Prairie as their testing ground and exhibition space, and ran their flying school there as well.

Sara is currently working on her 4th book!

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This book, projected to be released in 2027, will cover unsolved cases from the Dayton area. What unsolved cases from around here interest you?

Here are a few of the mysteries the book will cover:

  • A bomb send to the groom just before his wedding. No suspect has ever been arrested.
  • A young woman visiting Dayton suddenly dies and is buried without a name. Who is she, and why did he traveling companion refuse to identify her?
  • A grandmother disappears from her apartment. There were no signs of foul play and she didn’t take her coat or purse before leaving. What happened to her? Where is she?
  • A nightclub singer and his wife are murdered in their home. Their young daughter escapes through a window. Who killed the couple?
  • A young girl disappears from Kettering in 1976. Police dismissed her as a runaway. Whatever happened to her?

Downtown Housing Tour 2026

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The Downtown Housing Tour is back for 2026! The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 30.

Guests can get an inside look at downtown properties, and learn why a downtown address is so in demand!

Also, sign up for various Themed Walking Tours such as Sara’s Ghost Tour!
10 am – Walking Tour and Old Courthouse
11:15 – Old Courthouse only
12 noon – Walking tour and Old Courthouse

Sign up for Ghost Tour here!

Watch the Downtown Dayton Partnership page for sign up info and details on the other tours.

Local Author – J.E. Irvin

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Writing under the name J.E. Irvin, Janet Irvin has written seven mystery/thriller novels. Her works have appeared in a variety of print and online journals, including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Flights, and Literary Mama. Her poetry has been published in Hawaii Pacific Review, Creosote, MockTurtleZine, and more.

Irvin’s novel The Dark End of the Rainbow won the Jeremiah Healey Mystery Fiction Contest. Her next book, The Rules of the Game was a finalist for the same award. Irvin is a member of Sisters in Crime, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, and Buckeye Crime Writers. She also serves on the Springboro City Park Board and is a member of the Springboro Area Historical Society.

Some of her published works include:

  • Hollowed Bone, published in the Sky Island Journal Issue # 25 in 2023
  • ALL THE ODDS ARE EVEN, published in the Nexus Literary Journal in Spring 2015
  • PAWNS, published in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in May 2011
  • THE FABRIC OF OUR FEARS, published in The Broken Plate in Spring 2010

How a 19th Century Story Reached a Family Today

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Sometimes, we are reminded that the stories we share here don’t just stay here on the blog.

When we started Dayton Unknown, our goal was simple: to uncover and share the forgotten, overlooked, and lesser known stories that shaped our city. Stories like Johnny Morehouse and the Morehouse Family.

Recently, we heard from a descendant of the Morehouse family.

Thank you for the respectful write up of the Morehouse family and the great article about Horace, who was my great grandfather. I never heard a reference to him when I was growing up, since my great grandmother, Kitty Gilbert, had remarried. She is buried between her second husband and my mother in Elmhurst, Illinois. She was an amazing seamstress and very nice woman. I have been to Dayton to visit the grave of my great great uncle, Johnny, and and humbled by the tokens of love left there. Thank you so much!

This email was a great reminder that history isn’t static. It lives through memories, through family legends, and sometimes, these pieces of history find their way back to the people it belongs to.