Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

Frank Hale opened a grocery store in the Hoover block in 1900. For seventeen years, he sold canned goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, and other goods to working men and women of the surrounding West Dayton Neighborhood. This is a picture of what the grocery store looked like back in the 1900’s. The Wright Brothers and Paul Lawrence Dunbar shopped here. It is interesting to see how many supplies were stocked back then.

 

Before the Wright Brothers became bicycle men and aviators, they started out as printers. It was Orville who showed an interest in printing that he developed into a business while he was a teenager. As the printing enterprise grew, his younger brother Wilbur joined into help him. In the late 1800’s they were publishing their own newspapers; built their own presses; and cranked out jobs for West Dayton businesses and residents.

The Wright brothers owned a Prouty job press, which they used to prepare the bulk of their job work. Although the original press has not survived, an example is shown here. The Job press was used to print work such as cards, billheads and circulars.

This printing press was used by Miami Wood Specialty (a toy company owned by Lorin Wright and other family members) to make balsa wood Wright Flyers. These airplanes were given away as cereal premiums. Children saved a specified number of cereal box tops, sent them and received the airplane.

 

The Wright Cycle Company was a bicycle repair shop that was opened in 1892 by the brothers. In this shop they began manufacturing their own brands, including the Van Cleve. Here they also started giving serious thought to the possibilities of flight. This bicycle shop is the only one that is intact and in the original location.

The first velocipede bicycle had pedals mounted directly on the front axle and wheels approximately equal in size. The high wheel, or “ordinary” bicycle, was a variation of the velocipede. Its much larger front wheel made it faster than regular velocipedes but also more difficult to ride.

 

 

Carriage Hill Living Farm

The property of Carriage Hill was originally owned by Henry Harshbarger, Catharine Arnold’s father, in 1830. The family moved into a log house that was already on the land. Eventually Daniel Arnold bought more land from his father-in-law and built a new house. The youngest Arnold son bought more land and added a brick house that would be a winter kitchen; he also added a new barn for livestock. Throughout the 1880’s the farm was prosperous and productive.

The farm family raised food for the family and crops to be sold for cash. They sold large wagon loads of grain, hay, gravel, and other farm products. Small quantities of more labor intensive items like butter and smoked sausage were also sold. Every Friday a wagon load was taken into Dayton to sell to customers.

The Bank Barn was built in 1878. The lower level contains stalls and pens for the farm animals. The top level of the barn contains feed bins, hay and straw mowers, and a large threshing floor where equipment was stored.

The Bank Barn

This picture is just playing around in the visitor center since it started to rain.