History of the Edwin Smith House (Dayton Bicycle Club)

The structure that currently houses the Dayton Bicycle Club was originally a private residence, one of the few mid 19th Century homes that survived decades of development and urban renewal.

Those trends replaced most early downtown residences, including some of the most luxurious streets in Dayton like Robert Boulevard, with ever larger commercial structures and the institutional buildings of Montgomery County and Sinclair Community College.

The home was built in 1850 and is known as the Edwin Smith House. It is Victorian in style, and also has been described as Tuscan Revival.

Edwin Smith was a doctor as well as the first president of the Montgomery County Medical Society, which was founded in September of 1849 just before the home was constructed.

It was later the residence of Samuel Craighead, a prominent local attorney.

The house has a flood marker on its side showing the water level on March 25, 1913 when the Great Flood ravaged downtown Dayton.

Just two years later, the Dayton Bicycle Club, which spearheaded flood cleanup efforts including removing over 1,400 dead horses from city streets, moved in.

Foundation of the Dayton Bicycle Club

The Dayton Bicycle Club “was established in 1884 as an all-male bicycling organization” and later “evolved from a bicycle club sometime in the first two decades of the 20th century into an exclusive business and philanthropy club” (OhioLINK).

It has remained a social club to the present day, but with membership down in recent years club has considered allowing women to join for the first time (Dayton Daily News).

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Despite the major changes to the surrounding area, the home retains much of its charm recalling a bygone era on the formerly-residential western side of downtown Dayton.

Historic image is used courtesy of Dayton Metro Library