October 17, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie
Dayton, Ohio
We drove two hours south the other day to visit the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park in Dayton, Ohio, and get my stamp and sticker in my National Park book. We didn’t realize this was in the heart of downtown Dayton and finding a place to park was difficult.
There are times we become a bit concerned about the area we are entering and driving through. We passed several police cars with people pulled over and lights flashing. The entire area looked quite poor and rundown, except for the buildings that were part of the park. But I refuse to be afraid when we travel. I will not live in fear.
The Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP commemorates Orville and Wilbur Wright who turned cloth, wood, bicycle chains, and gears into the first heavier-than-air airplane. Established in 1992, this national park includes six unique sites, each highlighting a different part of the story.
The Wright Cycle Company (shown in the main photo above behind the park sign) and the visitor center is the first place to begin. These two buildings are right beside each other. The cycle shop was closed the day we were there. This building was actually the fourth cycle shop location operated by the Wright brothers and is the only remaining testament to their cycle operation.
The visitor center was open. It is a beautiful building and the workers inside were extremely nice and helpful. The first thing we did was walk through the small museum.
The photo below is a replica of the 1902 Wright Glider. It’s the first display you see when you enter the museum. It has a wing span of 32 feet and weighs 117 pounds empty.
Located at the corner of South Williams and West Third Street, the visitor center and museum contains exhibits on every phase of the Wright brothers’ lives, exhibits about aviation history in the Dayton area, and exhibits about the life and works of poet and writer Paul Laurence Dunbar.
The house is the third building that is part of the park and is located on North Paul Laurence Dunbar Street. Dunbar purchased this house in 1904 for his mother Matilda. He lived here after he became too sick from tuberculosis to travel. He died in 1906. His mother lived here until she died in 1934. Free tours are available on select days and it was closed the day we were there.
Did you know that the Wright brothers not only figured out how to fly through the air, but they also built a better bicycle with improved brakes?
The Frank B. Hale Grocery store was also located here in the early 1900s. For seventeen years Hale sold canned goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other goods to the people of Dayton, including the Wright brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar. This grocery store replica has been carefully furnished with historically correct items to show what it looked like at the time.
In 1920, the Wrights opened the first factory in the United States designed especially for building airplanes. They had just returned from a European tour and came home to Dayton with orders to build three airplanes. The factory is going to be the newest part of this National Park but is not yet open to the public.
Located on West Third Street is this 1905 Wright Flyer III Sculpture. The Wright Flyer III was the third powered aircraft by the Wright Brothers and was built during the winter of 1904–05. Orville made the first flight with it on June 23, 1905.
I love traveling the country and visiting all the national parks and historic sites. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park.
Do you collect stamps and stickers of the National Parks?
Thanks for reading.