Category Archives: Local History

Colonel Edward Deeds

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Colonel Edward Deeds is a name we all know around here in Dayton. Deeds was an engineer and inventor who helped to shape the history of Dayton, and establish Dayton as a center of innovation.

Edward Andrew Deeds was born on a farm in Granville, Ohio on March 12th, 1874. Deeds graduated as valedictorian from Denison University in 1897 and came to Dayton in 1898 to work as an Electrical Engineer for the Thresher company. In the same building was the headquarters of NCR, and in 1899, Frederick Patterson offered Deeds a position at “the Cash.”

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The Isaac Pollack House

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In 1854, two Jewish immigrants named Isaac Pollack and Solomon Rauh began a business partnership dealing whiskey and wine in Dayton from a warehouse on West Third Street.

Eight years later in 1862, Pollack served as a corporal in the civilian Squirrel Hunters during the Civil War and was regarded as a hero after the Squirrel Hunters successfully defended Cincinnati from an attack by the Confederate army. At the end of the war, Pollack and his friend Rauh started to build two identical homes on West Third Street.

Twin Houses

Source: Dayton International Peace Museum Website

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This Day in History – April 30th, 1802

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On April 30, 1802, Thomas Jefferson signed the Enabling Act that laid that groundwork for Ohio to become a state.

Arthur St. Clair, one of the co-founders of Dayton, was a staunch Federalist and opposed Ohio becoming a state. As Governor of the Northwest Territory, he believed that Federalists could keep control by keeping the states small. The population requirement to become a state was 60,000. For reference, Kettering’s population in 2017 was 55,175.

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Dayton International Peace Museum

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Founded in 2004 by Ralph and Christine Dull, J. Frederick Arment, Lisa Wolters, and Steve Fryburg, the Dayton International Peace Museum was the second of its kind in the United States. The objective of the museum is to inspire peace from local communities to international communities.

The museum is located in the historic Isaac Pollack house, located at 208 West Monument Avenue, at the corner of Wilkinson Street and Monument Avenue.

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Happy 224th Birthday, Dayton!

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April 1st, 1796, Dayton was founded by the Thompson Party. They disembarked from their boats at approximately the place where Founders Point is at Riverscape.

Screenshot_20180330-004835

As our favorite Dayton historian, Charlotte Reeve Conover put it in the beloved book The Story of Dayton:

“The boat party was the first to arrive. Rounding the curve in the river, where for so many years since then it has been flowing under the Dayton View Bridge, the pioneers perceived before their eyes the swift current of Mad River emptying itself into the main channel, just as it had been described, and saying to each other (so we may imagine), ‘Yes this must be the place,’ they tied the pirogue to a tree at the head of St, Clair Street and led by Mrs. Thompson, all clambered ashore.

At that moment, DAYTON came on the map!”

Bill Yeck – The Father of the Park District

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Bill Yeck grew up in the Akron area in the 1920s, and relocated to Washington Township in 1951. Always with an interest in green space and nature, Bill agreed to head up the newly-formed Park District in 1959. His goal for the district was to “Get us more parks and find ways to pay for them.”

While under his direction, the Park District grew to include 43 parks with over 893 acres of open, green spaces. At the time the Park District was formed, there was a state law that allowed only one public park per township and nobody knew what kinds of parks were needed, where parks should be located, or how the parks should be maintained, especially with no funding. Bill Yeck researched, visited other park districts and sought help from experts and enthusiasts to build the Centerville-Washington Park District.

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Dayton Flu Epidemic of 1918

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With the current events of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), did you know that Dayton has been through a similar scare before? The Flu Epidemic of 1918 was the Spanish Influenza, aka the “Grip,” which ran rampant among Daytonians. Despite many warnings (almost daily) about the spread of the flu, and tips to stay healthy, more and more Daytonians were getting sick.

20140624_150642Dayton Daily News article from September 23, 1918

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This Day in History – March 8th, 1937

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March 9, 1937. An earthquake rattles the small village of Anna, Ohio. Although Anna is located roughly forty-five miles north of Dayton, the effects were felt here in Dayton too. Anna was affected by eight earthquakes in March 1937 alone, with a total of twenty-three earthquakes in the decade. The prior week, the first of the March 1937 earthquakes hit, on March 2. Although there were no reported injuries, there was plenty of property damage. Fire Chief Henry Cleaves reported his clock – which had not been ticking for at least a year- had started ticking again after the quake.

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Mead Corporation

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The Mead Corporation was founded in Dayton in 1846, by Colonel Daniel Mead and his partners. Originally named Ellis, Chafflin & Company, the paper company went through a series of buyouts and reorganizations over the next several years, until the Mead Paper Company was established in 1882.

  • 1856 – Mead bought out his original partners and formed Weston and Mead.
  • 1860 – Weston and Mead became Mead and Weston.
  • 1866 – Mead and Weston became Mead and Nixon.
  • 1873 – Mead and Nixon became the Mead & Nixon Paper Company.
  • 1881 – Mead bought out Nixon, and established the Mead Paper Company in 1882.

By the time Daniel Mead died in 1891, the Mead Corporation was one of the largest paper producers in the country, with paper mills in Tennessee, Georgia, and Michigan, as well as the several plant locations in Ohio.

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One Missing Bench Found

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As you may remember from the story of the Missing Benches, there has been a mystery surrounding the rest of the benches that are supposed to be located all around the Miami Valley.

Well, one of the benches has been located! Right in front of the Wright Brothers Airport in Springboro, with a lovely mural with the Wright Brothers in the background.

Found Bench

The remaining benches really are a mystery:

  1. Two at the National Museum of the US Air Force – Bethany spoke to the staff and volunteers (including a groundskeeper) at the museum, and nobody had any recollection of the benches.
  2. One somewhere at the Dayton International Airport

– no idea where!
Have you seen one of these benches at one of these two locations? We’re still hunting!