• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Dayton Vistas

A Look at the Past, Present, and Future of the Gem City

Connect with Dayton Vistas

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Hire Me
  • Categories
    • Historical Dayton
    • New Developments
    • Dayton Culture
  • Article Archives
  • Catalog of Historic Dayton Buildings
  • My Dayton Book

Evolution of a Corner: 5th and Wayne from Dover Building to Dublin Pub

March 2, 2021 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment


A great book of Dayton history that I have on my shelf is Dayton Album: Remembering Downtown by Jim Nichols, who for years wrote about downtown for his Downtowner publication and a column in the Dayton Daily News.

In the book he has several pages devoted to the “evolution of a corner” where he looks at how a particular site has changed over the years. Inspired by this approach I wanted to do a similar “evolution of a corner” for one that’s always fascinated me at the edge of the Oregon District and the lost Haymarket neighborhood.

History of the SE corner of Fifth and Wayne

This corner was originally home to the Dover building which itself was replaced and upgraded over time.

The first Dover Building was the home and drug store of Thomas Dover.

thomas dover home and drug store

The business was already well established by 1875 when the building was depicted in the Combination Atlas Map of Montgomery County.

In 1883, it was replaced by a more ornate three-story brick commercial block constructed by Samuel B. Dover.

The impressive large corner building was called “one of the landmarks of this section of the city.”

dickey block dover building fifth and wayne

Controversy and tragedy plagued the larger building’s construction, however. Multiple articles described the “carelessness of the workmen” and that their placing a small board across the sidewalk “does not fence (the construction) in at all.”

One day during construction, “three little children passed it and were covered by a shower of dust and mortar.” But fortunately it did not contain any brick and the kids escaped dirty but uninjured. But on October 1883, a brick that fell from the third story of the Dover Block struck a Mrs. P. N. Adams in the head, killing her. Despite the tragedy, construction eventually was completed.

In the 1890s the drug store was taken over by the Jenkins Drug Company, whose operation continued until at least the 1940s, at which point the business was operated by Elizabeth Jenkins and Joseph Cowden.

Another tenant of the Dover Block was John Rea who dealt in household furniture, especially cradles and baby carriages.

In 1926 the building was sold from Samuel B. Dover to Isaac Kaplan, owner of the Pennsylvania Iron and Coal Company, for $92,000 (the sale price included the small adjoining properties). It was noted that the purchase was “for investment purposes” of Mr. Kaplan, who would “do such remodeling of the properties as to bring them strictly up to date.”

The area declined over the subsequent decades, was designated as “blighted” in order to open up the possibility of federal urban renewal funds, and was totally demolished in the early 1960s.

In 1965, a shell gas station was built on the site of the Dover block.

The urban renewal project widened the streets to accommodate cars at the expense of walkability, greatly decreased density and pedestrian flow, and abandoned the principles of human-scale design which had originally made this area a self-sufficient, livable neighborhood.

So not surprisingly, it continued to decline and by the 1990s the Shell station was abandoned and derelict.

In 1997, the site was purchased by a group of seven developers who opened the Dublin Pub on the same corner the following year, which is still going strong over two decades later.

In 2013, the restaurant began planning an addition that would incorporate a variety of historic materials. According to the Dublin Pub it was “constructed from nearly all reclaimed historic material from up to 20 separate historic structures including The Huffman School, The Stockyards, a few houses built in the 1850’s, and a downtown office building.” In addition, “a 108 year old church was salvaged from demolition, and stored for 1.5 years until the church could be rebuilt as the new addition.”

With all the historic architecture has been lost near this corner, the new addition is a welcome development.

The corner today

Sources

Historic images courtesy of Dayton Metro Library

Dover Block Sells in Deal of $92,000. Dayton Daily News. 4/12/1926.

It Happened in Dayton. Dayton Herald. 3/19/1942.

Dayton Herald, p. 3. 11/1/1883.

Dublin Pub: Our history

Related Posts:

  • haymarket dayton
    The History and Razing of the Haymarket (The Actual Market)
  • dayton-old-post-office-bankrupcy-court
    The History of Dayton's Old Post Office Buildings
  • 3rd-irwin-urban-intersection-today
    3rd and Irwin and Intact Urban Intersections in Dayton
  • dayton flood 1913 map
    Map of the 1913 Great Flood: How Much of Dayton Was…
Enjoying Dayton Vistas?
Take a look at Andrew's book Lost Dayton, Ohio. You can also subscribe to our newsletter for periodic updates of new articles.

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Dublin Pub, Haymarket, Isaac Kaplan, Jenkins Drug Company, Jim Nichols, John Rea, Samuel P. Dover, Thomas Dover

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search the Dayton Vistas Archives

My book explores a diverse selection of retail, industrial, entertainment and residential sites from Dayton's disappearing legacy.
Read More

About Dayton Vistas

I'm Andrew Walsh, a writer and academic librarian. I research Dayton history, architecture, preservation, and urban redevelopment.

Read More

Get New Posts via Email


Latest Posts

901 keowee st

Award-Winning Architecture at the Corner of Keowee and Webster

historic building at washington and longworth dayton

Midtown Survivors at Washington and Longworth

historic view of east side of main street, downtown dayton

Urban Renewal and Lost Buildings at Main and 3rd

heritage coffeeshop university of dayton built 1903

Lesser-Known Historic Buildings of the University of Dayton

dayton masonic temple

Masonic Temple (Dayton Masonic Center) History

dayton commercial building during construction 1900s

The Commercial Building: Before and During Construction

Browse Historic Dayton

newcom tavern daytonA Catalog of Historic Dayton Buildings (with years, pics, type, area, status, etc.)

Recent Comments

  • Mollie Hauser on The Last Old Buildings on the West Side of Downtown
  • William "Rusty" Pietrzak on The Diner on St. Clair: a History and an Uncertain Future
  • Laura J Merrell on Historic Buildings on the University of Dayton Campus
  • Накрутка мобильными on Lost Commercial Buildings at Main and Franklin

Articles By Topic

Architecture Banking Brown Street Churches Commercial Building Dayton Arcade Dayton Daily News Delco Demolition Downtown East Dayton Features Fidelity Building Fire Blocks District Great Flood of 1913 Historic Homes House Histories Huffman Industrial Buildings John H Patterson NCR Old Dayton Maps Old North Dayton Oregon District Paul Laurence Dunbar Preservation Rare Dayton Photos Restaurants Retail Rike's Sanborn Maps Santa Clara South Park Sports St. Anne's Hill Then and Now Twin Towers University of Dayton Urban Planning Urban Renewal Wayne Avenue West Dayton Windsor Companies Wright-Dunbar Wright Brothers

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro On Genesis Framework · Affiliate Disclosure and Privacy Policy · WordPress · Log in