South Main Street beyond Dayton’s Central Business District has lost a huge percentage of its historic urban fabric over time.
A large portion was removed for the construction of US-35 in the 1960s, and I’ve covered buildings that held on longer but ultimately were razed, like the nice business block at Main and Franklin.
The most significant surviving building in this area is known as the Eagles Building, which was built 1916 as a meeting hall for Aerie 321 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Renaissance Revival structure has also been described as “movie palace type in prairie style.”
It was designed by prominent Dayton architect Albert Pretzinger and his firm, who also did the Dayton Daily News and other important Dayton buildings.
The weekend it opened, more than 10,000 people came to tour the facility.
Fraternal organizations played a major role in shaping Dayton’s built environment, constructing many architecturally distinctive buildings across the city. Other structures like the Masonic Temple and the Odd Fellows Buildings reflect the scale and influence these groups once had in the city.
On South Main, the Eagles “used the first floor for bowling, eating, drinking, playing pool and dancing.” The back white-brick section was added in 1925.
In 1926 the building’s auditorium hosted a “national marathon dance.” In the 50s, the Eagles opened a restaurant for members and their guests. But they would only occupy the building for about another decade.
In 1968, the building became the City Mission which served men experiencing homelessness. In 1981 Rev. Clyde Baumgardner was forced to sell it “after heating and maintenance costs became exorbitant.”
It fell vacant at that point but was bought for $175,000 by Dave Marshall, who owned Ziebart Appearance and Protection Service nearby on Jefferson Street.
He eyed a renovation for a restaurant or nightclub, even naming it Union Station Music Palace as a nod to its proximity to the elevated railroad tracks. A newspaper article from 1982 said that “city officials have dubbed the section of downtown that skirts the railroad tracks the Union Station Quarter.”
But that did not move forward and the building was still vacant in the late 1980s. It was bought by the Montgomery County Community Action Agency in 1988.
In 1999 it became the home of the City-Day Community School, Dayton’s first charter school, which it remains today.
South Main’s Street’s Transformation in Dayton
In the historic image below, we see a series of residential structures surrounding the Eagles Building which have since been removed.
But the landmark still stands, fortunate to have found a new life long after the Eagles left the building.
Sources: Dayton Daily News, 6/29/82, Dayton Metro Library digital image collections
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