I’ve written some about the western side of downtown Dayton, which before urban renewal was largely residential and contained some of the most beautiful homes in the city.
The street that featured the largest concentration of “luxury” housing was Robert Boulevard, which ran north/south from Monument to Fifth Street near the Great Miami River.
The Great Flood of 1913 caused destruction to this area and also set in motion the mass exodus of wealthy Daytonians from downtown to emerging streetcar suburbs situated on higher ground.
In addition to Robert Boulevard, many other streets on the west edge of downtown featured wonderful homes. Today we’ll take a look at the NE corner of Fourth and Perry.
The elegant corner building here is the Thomas Parrott homestead, built in 1845. Later the home was purchased by Harry Conover, and “at one time was considered one of the finest in the city.”
The once-grand structure was demolished in 1929, however, and a filling station was later installed at the same corner.
Behind it on Fourth one can see a whole block of homes, several with nice front porches. Sacred Heart Church rises up at the opposite end of the block, the only structure that survives to this day:
In today’s view, we see a wall of street trees, but behind them is a large surface parking lot with a nondescript single-story office building in the middle (the filling station is long gone).
Recently this property was purchased by Sinclair College. It is directly east of the college conference center across Perry Street, and it remains to be seen what will happen to this property that has already been greatly transformed over the years.
Sources
Historic image and site history: Dayton Metro Library
Do you have a picture of the old TB Clinic at 41 Perry St. Or, the old Health Dept I think it was in an old yellow brick house on Second St. I used to work there back I 1967, then we move to the new county building in 72 or 73.
I am the Great Granddaughter of Harry Howard Conover. Was that his home? Is that the correct Harry Conover, married to Helen Smith, grandson of Henry Long of the Long-Romspert historical home in Oakwood.
Where can I get a picture of 1508 E. Second Street before the house was torn down?