Webster Station is a former industrial area that’s quickly turning into Dayton’s hottest neighborhood with a variety of apartment and condo living options, as well as bars, restaurants, and a soon-to-open hotel.
Many old warehouses and other early commercial structures survive, and quite a few have been transformed into new developments. In others, a variety of companies continue to ply their trade. And among all of this, the crack of the bat of minor league baseball delights record-setting crowds.
Delco was the most prominent company associated with the Webster Station area. It was founded by Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds who invented the electric starter before building their operation into a massive company with a large corporate campus.
The adaptive reuse of their first plant into the Delco Lofts apartments and Lock 27 restaurant was a major boon to the area.
Their second plant is the current Mendelson’s liquidation warehouse, while the third was demolished in 1981 with Fifth Third Field later built on the site.
But in addition to the storied history of Delco, there were a variety of smaller firms that also called the area home. Many of these were also in the auto industry in its early years.
The building at 224-226 N St. Clair St. was built in 1921 and was the home of the Weber Company, which sold a variety of automobile accessories and also installed them.
Another well-known Webster Station building was once was the home of two auto-related companies.
The 1913 McCormick Building at 434-438 E First St. which today houses condos was once occupied by McCormick Laboratories, a company that did research and development related to automobile electrical systems and engines.
It also housed McCormick Manufacturing Company, which created the products that had just been designed in the neighboring lab.
Neither company lasted long, however, and the next firm to occupy the space was the Acme Carburetor Company.
In 2001 the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. When it was converted to residential it was originally apartments called Park Place, and its 2014 condo conversion brought back the familiar McCormick name.
The condos are “laid out as true lofts with exposed beams, bare brick exterior walls and open duct work. Unique features include sliding ‘barn doors’ especially in the front bed room which is next to the open living area.”
804 E Monument Ave is another building with a rich industrial history, and it was occupied by a variety of firms over the years including the National Manifolding Co. and the Stanley Manufacturing Co,
In 2016 it was bought by investors who opened a meetings and events space while targeting additional office and service tenants to fill other spaces in the 75,000 square foot building.
Unfortunately, the coffee shop that opened in the 804 Building, La Gota Coffee, recently closed after about a year in business.
The land in Webster Station was slow to develop following the construction of the ballpark in 2001, but it has accelerated in recent years with the new Water Street apartments and commercial building and an increasingly occupied Tech Town.
The latter was originally built in a suburban office-park style, but a more recent plan has suggested it will evolve into a more mixed-use site “that tries to capitalize on its urban setting with new amenities that appeal to young creative professionals” and increase walkability.
Not everything has survived in the area.
In addition to the previously mentioned Delco Plant #3 which was cleared and eventually replaced by Fifth Third Field, the Frigidaire Plant #1 is was also demolished, although early plans for Tech Town had pledged to preserve and incorporate it into the development.
The massive plant can still be seen in the 2007 Streetview:
Today
Sources:
Delco Historic Nomination Form
http://www.mostmetro.com/life/urban-living/new-condos-on-the-block-the-mccormick.html
McCormick Building photo by Greg Hume
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