Category Archives: Places & Names

The Yellow Spring

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What exactly causes the Yellow Spring to be yellow? In a nutshell, iron.

A spring is defined as water overflowing from an aquifer. In this particular spring, the water underground is clear, but turns yellow when it hits the air. The iron in the water becomes rust when exposed to air, and turns into the well-known yellowish orange color that gave Yellow Springs its name. Experts theorize the water may run through an iron deposit underground (called a vugg) or the geology of the area could just contain excess iron.

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Liberty Tower

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After the flood of 1913, Second Street faced a new frontier. As it had previously been occupied by mansions and apartment buildings, the flood pushed residents away from downtown, moving them to Salem Avenue and Far Hills Avenue. This created the prime opportunity for development.

Planning for the Liberty Tower started in 1929, and construction started the next year. It took 11 months to create what was Dayton’s tallest building at that time. Liberty Tower was the tallest building in Dayton from 1931 until the construction of the Kettering Tower in 1969. The Mutual Home Building, as it was known then, was built out of concrete and steel and 23 stories tall. Attendants manned the garages and state-of-the-art elevators, giving an air of elegance.

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Interesting Street Names

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  • Cline Street – Once known as Zigzag Street because it ran along an open ditch, called Seely’s ditch, but has long since been straightened.
  • Hoover Avenue – Not named for the president, but for local residents and the Hoover Park plat developed in 1917.
  • Demphle Avenue – named for Sebastion Demphle, a local stove dealer.
  • Babbitt Street – A T.S. Babbitt lived at First Street and Bridge Street, later Stratford Lane.
  • Kiefaber Street – named after Warner Harshman Kiefaber Sr, who graduated from St Mary’s Institute class of 1905 and later founded the W.H Kiefaber Company on Keowee Street and Monument Avenue in 1920.

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Water you doing, Dayton?

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In the late 1800s, sinks had 3 faucets. Far left was hot rainwater, far right was cold, and the middle was Holly Water. Also known as drinking water, Holly Water got its name because the first city waterworks used Holly’s Patent Elliptical Rotary Pumps to get water from two wells. The rainwater came from cisterns in people’s yards, collected from roof runoff and brought into the house via pumps.

Before Holly Water, residents drank well water, benefiting from the filtering effects of the porous sub-soil. By the 1860s as more and more people moved into Dayton, those water sources became compromised, with an increasing amount of cesspools infringing on the borders of these wells. This led to the first Board of Health being created in 1868. A Committee was formed to address the issues, ultimately choosing the “Holly System.”

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Oddball Street Names

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A few odd street names in the Greater Dayton Area – some with an explanation, some just explain themselves!

  • Chicken Bristle Road, Farmersville: bristle is short, stiff hair. Chickens have bristle feathers.
  • Rip Rap Road, Huber Heights: Rip Rap is stone used to protect shore lines from erosion.
  • Grinn Drive and Barrett Road, West Chester: make up the intersection “Grinn and Barrett.”
  • Sweet Potato Ridge Road, Brookville
  • Dotcom Drive Troy: Named after the internet term.

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Farmersville Bottle Farm

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“I would live by my wits while my brothers live by the sweat of their brows.”– Winter Zellar (Zero) Swartsel, Grandfather of Pop Art

Tired of the hard-working routine of Farmersville, Zero and a friend decided to bike first to New York City, head west, then travel the world, collecting items along the way. Later, his home in Farmersville and also his yard would be decorated extensively with these items. His twenty-two acre farm soon became a canvas for his art, using glass he collected from “wasteful” people.

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Source: Remarkable Ohio

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More Interesting Dayton Facts

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  • Susan Koerner Wright, mother of Wilbur and Orville, enjoyed making things for and with her children. Reportedly, her husband Milton could not hammer a nail straight, and she was the handy person in the family. She often made toys for the children, and even put together some small appliances to make her household chores easier.
  • In 1900, Dayton listed more inventions than any other city in the United States.
  • John Patterson could not stand Charles Kettering, and would often fire him from his company, NCR. Edward Deeds would always hire him back.
  • During rainy seasons, carriages would get stuck in the mud. To remedy this, huge logs were buried under the mud, lining Dayton streets in a “corduroy” fashion, preventing wagons and animals from sinking.

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Winter in Dayton

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With all the snow we’ve been getting lately, we wanted to share some of our favorite pictures from this winter, and winters past!

Also, if you have any great winter pics to share, please send them to us at daytonunknown@hotmail.com and if we may just share your pictures too! Please make sure to provide your full name for photo credit!

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Dayton Flood Facts

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Note: Due to the current events across the country, there are a lot of questions about the potential for flooding in the Dayton Area. Our next few posts will address those concerns, and share a little bit of the history regarding floods in the Dayton region.

  • It is believed that the weather conditions leading to the 1913 Dayton Flood were caused by the eruption of Mount Katmai and its daughter volcano Novarupta in Alaska in 1912. Novarupta emitted enough fine ash into the atmosphere to cool the climate of the Northern Hemisphere that winter. This storm caused the Great Tornadoes of Omaha before striking Dayton.

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