Halloween is almost here, so we thought we’d share some of our favorite spooky pictures from around Dayton!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, DAYTON!!!
Tag Archives: Woodland Cemetery
Gustave Wiedeke
If you’ve visited Woodland Cemetery, you may have seen this life-size, imposing monument of a man, its statue often startling guards at night. The man’s specifications and dimensions in stone match his exact measurements in real life, with careful attention to every detail, from the buttons on his suit to his piercing eyes.
Dayton Hero – David T. Chambers
The chain of events that started Dayton’s Great Flood started on March 21, 1913, with a rainstorm. Over the next few days, more rain came, ultimately weakening the levees and flooding the already oversaturated soil. Water rose quickly, and as gas lines were destroyed, a fire started downtown that destroyed most of a block.
As these events were happening, twenty four year old David T. Chambers of North Dayton could not stand by and watch without helping. From the safety of his home, which was located above the flood waters, he could see the damage being caused by the rising waters.
Lib Hedges
Everyone knew about Pearl Street in Dayton’s Red Light District, but nobody admitted so.
“Most of the houses were ornately trimmed; each had the name of the proprietor, a single woman posted in the door glass or permanently etched there, and at night, in the window on a table sat a red lamp, spreading its cheery invitation to all. Within the houses many women followed a profession dignified only by its extreme age.”
Woodland Cemetery Series: Matilda Stanley – Queen of the Gypsies
Matilda Stanley holds records. She holds one record for being the person held in Woodland’s receiving vault the longest, one for being the most loved Gypsy queen recorded, and also the only known gypsy funeral to be presided over by an “outsider”, Reverend David Berger. At an estimated 15-25k people, Matilda’s funeral is also the biggest one to have been seen in Dayton.
Matilda married her husband Levi in Berkshire, England and together with their families, moved to the United States in 1856. They chose Dayton as their summer headquarters, heading south every winter to live in warmer weather, the procession down Main street a spectacle.
Because record keeping was not very stringent, Matilda’s exact date of birth can only be guessed as sometime in 1821. Her date of death is more concrete, confirmed as January 15, 1878. Woodland held her body in the receiving vault until September of that year, in order to give friends and family time to travel from all over the world to attend her funeral.
Fun Facts about Dayton – Part 3
Here’s some more fun facts about Dayton we’ve learned during our research:
- The Private Fair statue on Main Street just south of Monument Avenue in downtown was almost a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, but ex-Civil War soldiers protested, and requested the goddess instead be a statue of a soldier. Private George Washington Fair of Dayton was the model for the statue, which was erected in 1884 – the original location at the intersection of Main and Monument.
- The statue of President McKinley in Cooper Park (behind the Dayton Library on Third Street and St. Clair) was built from funds raised and donated by local schoolchildren.
Woodland Cemetery Series: The Boy and His Dog
Johnny Morehouse is perhaps one of the most famous graves in Woodland Cemetery. Johnny drowned in the mid 1800s, and there are many stories about his dog’s death.
One story is that Johnny’s dog jumped in the river and drowned trying to save him. The family was so moved by his loyalty to the boy that they had the grave marker sculpted of him and Johnny.
Woodland Cemetery Series: Notable Graves Part I
Woodland Cemetery is an old cemetery in the heart of Dayton. Brimming with trees, this cemetery was designed with visitors in mind. When it opened in the 1840’s, people were still losing loved ones to diseases which have long since been cured. Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum was created to be a pleasant atmosphere in which family could come and spend the day.
Dayton Unknown 