NCR was well-known for its innovative factory buildings featuring abundant windows to allow in more light, and founder John H. Patterson also made huge investments in parks, landscaped boulevards, and other natural areas in Dayton.
But did you know that NCR once had its very own company tree?
The tree, known as the Patterson Elm, was located on the west side of Brown Street near Stewart Street.
It marked the northern boundary of the Patterson homestead and farm and thus stood on NCR land near two of its main buildings on Stewart.
This tree has been called a “true Dayton landmark” and was also historically a site of significance for the area’s Native American populations.
Travelers frequently “halted under the old elm for rest and food” and it was also a site of both war and peace as “many battles raged around the elm” but it was also “where treaties were made.”
The tree, having been “diseased for a while,” was removed in 1921, just one year before the death of its namesake Patterson at the age of 77.
One source said that the tree was “cut down and preserved” and another said that a different elm from the woods of Hills and Dales was moved and planted in its place, although it is unknown how long that replacement tree remained at the spot.
Works Cited:
Did you Know by Ken Carr, NCR, 2006
Dayton Metro Library Image Collections
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