I recently covered the recent reopening of Rabbit Hole Books after being closed for two months.
Today, we will dig more deeply into the history of the parking garage where it is located, and whose condition has led to the ongoing disputes between the bookstore and the City of Dayton.
The First Street Garage was built in 1926 which makes it the oldest freestanding parking garage in Downtown Dayton.
It was built primarily for tenants of the Harries Building (Barclay Building) across First Street, where the Hotel Ardent is located today.
Building tenants were given exclusive use of the parking garage, which was also used by a nearby hotel, and for customers of Rike’s Department Store and the Victoria Theater.
Parking could even be rolled into the companies’ monthly rent, and early tenants of the large office building included insurance companies, lawyers, accountants, and a beauty shop.
The garage was constructed by the same company, Frank Hill Smith, Inc., that built the office building.
The garage also represents the shifting of West First Street from luxury residences owned by Dayton’s most prominent citizens to commercial uses and the accommodation of automobiles.
To build the garage, two fine mansions were demolished, including one owned by one of the founders of the Mead Corporation, Daniel Eldridge Mead (on the right in the image below).
After a fire occurred in the garage in early 2026, the businesses on the ground floor were closed due to structural integrity concerns, and Dayton’s Director of Planning said the garage had been a concern of theirs for a while.
Also back in 2021, a driver crashed their SUV through the second floor wall and onto the sidewalk but somewhat miraculously escaped without major injuries. After that the wall and window of the garage was rebuilt and the repairs were approved by the city.
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