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

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Wright-Dunbar

The New Third Street Bridge and Projects in Wright-Dunbar

January 12, 2022 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

wright dunbar food hall

At the end of 2021, a vital connection for Dayton was reestablished. And it may help give a boost to a variety of projects along a historic business corridor. The Third Street Bridge, which had closed at the end of 2019, reopened in early December. As we enter 2022, … [Read more...] about The New Third Street Bridge and Projects in Wright-Dunbar

Filed Under: New Developments Tagged With: Bridges, Gem City Ice Cream Building, Grind House Coffee, Third Street Bridge, W Social Tap and Table, Wright-Dunbar

Computer Group Interested in Endangered Building for Museum

December 15, 2021 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

gem city ice cream building

Lately, the fate of the Gem City Ice Cream Building has been in flux. In recent months it was targeted for demolition by the city, given a reprieve by the Landmarks Commission which denied the request, then dealt another blow by a Board of Zoning Appeals decision that … [Read more...] about Computer Group Interested in Endangered Building for Museum

Filed Under: New Developments Tagged With: Dayton Microcomputer Association, Gem City Ice Cream Building, Longer, Wright-Dunbar

Gem City Ice Cream Building at Risk of Demolition

September 23, 2021 By Andrew Walsh 1 Comment

gem city ice cream building

A historic building in the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood is at risk of demolition after the City of Dayton asked the Landmarks Commission for permission to remove it. The Gem City Ice Cream Building, constructed in the late 1800s, has been listed on the National Register of … [Read more...] about Gem City Ice Cream Building at Risk of Demolition

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Preservation, Preservation Dayton, Wright Brothers, Wright-Dunbar

History of West Third Street Buildings in Wright-Dunbar

April 8, 2019 By Andrew Walsh 6 Comments

Our last article looked into the history of the West Third Business District in Wright-Dunbar, including some old maps of the area. Today we'll take it a step further by digging into the stories of many of the individual commercial buildings. 1000 Block The Hoover Block, … [Read more...] about History of West Third Street Buildings in Wright-Dunbar

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Banking, Commercial Buildings, Gem City Ice Cream Building, Gunkel Building, Hoersting-Holtman Building, Hoover Block, Marietta Flats, Midget Theater, Mystic Chain Hall, Pekin Theater, W. A. Lincoln's, Walter's Block, West Dayton, Wright Cycle Company, Wright-Dunbar, Zik's Pharmacy

History of the West Third Street Business District in Wright-Dunbar

March 24, 2019 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

west third street and south williams 1919

Columnist Jon White recently wrote about the potential of the Wright Dunbar Business District, so we thought it would be a good time to take a historical tour through the area and learn a little more about it. This first article will look at a general history of the corridor … [Read more...] about History of the West Third Street Business District in Wright-Dunbar

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Dayton Street Railway, Harbert S. Williams, Public Transit, Streetcars, Transportation History, West Dayton, William P. Huffman, Wright-Dunbar

Wright Dunbar District: Dayton’s Next Great Street?

March 14, 2019 By Jon White 3 Comments

Can we take a moment to appreciate the hidden-gem that is the Wright-Dunbar Business District? With its mix of Romanesque Revival, Italianate, and Neoclassical Revival architecture, outside of Fifth Street in the Oregon District there is not a better example of an … [Read more...] about Wright Dunbar District: Dayton’s Next Great Street?

Filed Under: New Developments Tagged With: Co-ops, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, Fifth St Brewpub, Riverfront Master Plan, Texas Beef and Cattle Co, Third Street Bridge, Walkability, West Dayton, Wright-Dunbar

The Hoover Block and the Wright Brothers’ Printing Business

December 14, 2018 By Andrew Walsh 4 Comments

Hoover Block aviation national historic park

The historic West Third Street business district in Wright-Dunbar has a BBQ restaurant and a few small independent retail businesses catering primarily to neighborhood residents. But the best-known attractions in the area are the sites connected to the men who gave the … [Read more...] about The Hoover Block and the Wright Brothers’ Printing Business

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Bicycles, Frank Hale, Mary Ann Johnson, Museums, Orville Wright, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Printing, West Dayton, Wilbur Wright, Wright Brothers, Wright-Dunbar

The Paul Laurence Dunbar House and Museum

October 17, 2018 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

paul laurence dunbar house state historic site museum

In a previous post, we introduced the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center, one of the sites on the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. The original home of the family that gave the neighborhood half of its name, the Wrights, is long gone, having been moved to … [Read more...] about The Paul Laurence Dunbar House and Museum

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Dayton Culture, Dayton Tourism, Museums, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poetry, West Dayton, Wright Brothers, Wright-Dunbar, Writing

What Can You Find at the Aviation Museum in Wright Dunbar?

February 27, 2018 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

Dayton has quite a few historic sites connected to the Wright Brothers and their early experiments with aviation. Today several of them are linked together under the name of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which also commemorates the Wrights' earlier … [Read more...] about What Can You Find at the Aviation Museum in Wright Dunbar?

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Aviation Trail, Dayton Culture, Dayton Tourism, Museums, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Preservation, Printing, West Dayton, Wright Brothers, Wright-Dunbar

From Hardware to Texas Beef & Cattle: The History of the Gunkel Building

December 20, 2017 By Andrew Walsh Leave a Comment

texas beef and cattle gunkel building hamburger's hardware

Today this building's main tenant is the Texas Beef and Cattle Company, and in the early 1900s the place was known for hamburger. But not the kind you're probably thinking. Hamburger’s Hardware Store, named for owner Frank Hamburger, was a longtime fixture on the northwest … [Read more...] about From Hardware to Texas Beef & Cattle: The History of the Gunkel Building

Filed Under: Historical Dayton Tagged With: Features, Frank Hamburger, Hardware Stores, Preservation, Restaurants, Retail, West Dayton, Wright Brothers, Wright-Dunbar

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