Historic furnishings report - The Wright Cycle Company building

Grassick, Mary

This report contains information about the historic furnishings that are used at the Wright brothers’ bicycle shop and how these furnishings are used to interpret the brothers’ efforts in bicycle making, sales, and operation of their printing business. Wilbur and Orville Wright opened their bicycle shop at 22 South Williams Street in Dayton, Ohio, in the spring of 1895. The building, down the street from their home at 7 Hawthorne Street, housed the brothers’ bicycle sales and repair business as well as a limited printing operation until late spring of 1897. It was in this location that they began manufacturing their own brands of bicycles, the Van Cleve, the St. Clair, and the Wright Special. Manuscripts held at the Library of Congress include Wright family correspondence which refers briefly to the brothers’ business and provides some evidence about activities in the building. Period bicycle repair manuals, trade catalogs, and trade periodicals provide comparative evidence for furnishings recommendations. Along with other media, historic furnishings are used at 22 South Williams Street to interpret the Wright brothers’ combined efforts in bicycle making, sales and repair, as well as the continued operation of their printing business. The front window is furnished with bicycle displays in order to pique visitor interest and to accurately represent one type of advertising the Wright brothers would have employed to promote their bicycle business. A furnishings vignette in the rear of the building illustrates how Orville and Wilbur Wright set up and used tools in their bicycle manufacture and repair business.

Historic furnishings report - The Wright Cycle Company building

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