Then and Now: 124 East Third Street in the Fire Blocks

This is the first in a series of articles about the Fire Blocks which will cover the area’s history as well as the plans to bring the buildings back to productive use.

The redevelopment of the Fire Blocks in downtown Dayton is finally starting to ramp up with a new development team at the helm: Columbus-based Windsor Companies.

The first phase includes the Huffman Block Building, the Elks Building, and the office building located at 124 East Third Street.

The upper floors will be converted to apartments and unconventional offices, while a variety of retail and restaurant uses are targeted for the ground floor spaces.

The 124 Building was originally known as the Dickey Building when it was erected in 1917. It was the last of the new buildings to be completed after the Great Flood of 1913 which ravaged the district with not only floodwaters but also flames as the entire block caught fire, reducing most of the existing structures to rubble.

Plans for the current building were announced shortly after the flood by Robert Dickey, a prominent business executive for a variety of companies including the Dayton View Hydraulic Company, Winters National Bank, and the Dayton Gas Light and Coke Company.

It would take several years, however, to get the project off the ground.

The rebuilding of the Fire Blocks area with larger and more modern buildings was a signal that Dayton was a strong city able to survive and thrive after a crippling disaster.

But unfortunately, the area would suffer a more gradual decline during the latter decades of the 20th century along with the rest of downtown, leading to its mostly vacant status preceding the current redevelopment project.

Several images exist of the smaller buildings that lined East Third prior to the fire. Below is a shot of what the south side of the street looked like near Jefferson in the late 1800s.

Businesses identified include the Irvin Paint & Glass Company, which offered everything from mixed paints to plate glass and mirrors.

The company started as an offshoot of the better-known Lowe Brothers Paint Co, which originally also sold glass until company secretary Jas. M. Irwin purchased the stock of glass as well as Lowe’s jobbing paint business in 1897 and opened a firm under his own name.

It would later become the Irvin, Jewell & Vinson Co. after the purchase of a second business.

A bowling alley and restaurant are also visible in the shot.

All of these buildings were destroyed by the flood and fire and the Dickey Building took their place (you can see 124 East Third Street in both images):

Stay tuned for more posts on the Fire Blocks. You can also read more about this area in my book Lost Dayton, Ohio.