I recently published an article about Woodard Development’s foray into the Oregon District.
Today I’ll cover the history of another building they purchased just on the edge of the historic neighborhood.
The former United Business Services (UBS) Building is located at 505 S. Jefferson Street near Patterson Boulevard and US-35 just across Patterson from the Oregon District.
It’s a brick warehouse that’s well over a century old. When UBS moved in in 1986 it was reported to be 125 years old which would put its construction date at 1861.
Sanborn maps suggest it may have been built in between 1887 and 1897, although it’s difficult to be certain since some buildings in those early maps lack addresses and the street pattern has completely changed.
As of 1918, the building was The Ohio State Telephone Company garage and warehouse.
The map below depicts the radical changes to this area of downtown since then. You can see Warren Street crisscrossing the Miami Erie Canal, and rows of houses occupying land that is now dead space taken up by highway 35 and its labyrinth of on and off ramps.
Later tenants of the building include Stachler Auto Service (as of 1923); Ware-Krebs Plumbing and Heating Co (1930); the Jamison Engineering Company (1946) and Richards Electric.
It was the site of some controversy in 1984 when the St. Vincent De Paul proposed opening a hotel for the homeless in the building, but opposition from the Oregon District neighborhood association derailed those plans.
Instead, the company United Business Services bought the building and completed a major interior and exterior renovation before moving its operations to the site from 201 Warren Street.
At the time it housed the company’s copying service, a layout area with paste-up equipment, banner making and binding materials, and a sales area for copiers, stationery and supplies.
UBS was the Toshiba dealer for the Dayton area and the site was also a downtown shipping location for Emery Worldwide.
Newspaper advertisements refer to UBS operating at this address up until 2005, and a 2008 article reports that they again expanded and moved to 110 N Main St. (most recently the Premier Health Tower).
It’s still unclear what plans Woodard may have for the building, but it’s a fairly large, visible property that could be a good fit for a variety of uses.
It’s also a great chance to bring a historic structure back to productive use in an area that doesn’t have many of them left.
Sources
UBS grows presence in downtown, Dayton Dayton Daily News 3/16/08
UBS moves, plans to expand, Dayton Daily News 2/28/86
Zoning appeal hearing set, Journal Herald 11/30/84
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