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.

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!”