West Third Street Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, National Park Service

The West Third Street Historic District is an urban cultural landscape within the city of Dayton, Ohio. It is a commercial district of two- and three-story brick buildings, with stores occupying the ground-level properties and offices and apartments above. The linear district extends over two blocks, with Broadway Street to the west, Shannon Street to the east, and several additional extensions and residences to help provide context. The surrounding landscape is characterized by blighted residential lots and vacant properties, although there has recently been significant urban renewal in the area. Positioned ten blocks west of the city center, the district was one of Dayton’s earliest streetcar suburbs. The West Third Street Historic District is significant for its associations with invention and architecture during the period of 1885 through 1924. It serves as a cohesive collection of late 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings, representative of the architectural styles and businesses that typically defined a suburban streetcar commercial block. Additionally, the area is important for associations with aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright. Between 1889 and 1918, the brothers explored individual business interests in printing and bicycles, eventually consolidating their businesses into a building at 22 South Williams Street to begin their flight experiments. They soon relocated and closed their businesses to focus upon aviation, but maintained an office at 1127 Third Street until 1918. Of all the buildings the Wrights operated from during this period, only three remain in-tact. The National Park Service (NPS) has restored Orville’s initial printing shop on the Hoover Block (1890-1895) and the Wright Cycle Company Building. The City of Dayton owns the Gem City Ice Cream Company Building, which was added onto the structure that housed Wilbur’s first bicycle business in 1893; however, this building is abandoned and structurally deficient. The architecture of the West Third Street District suggests its identity as a suburban streetcar commercial block. The 1869 streetcar encouraged residential and business development beyond the central Dayton area, and the structures contain unifying elements from a range of building styles. The facades are made primarily of brick, with stone and metal trim. Buildings exhibit a mixed character and represent Romanesque Revival, Victorian Italianate, Neoclassical Revival, and Georgian Revival styles. In all, twenty-six buildings contribute to the site's historic image. The district is also tangentially associated with Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), an internationally renowned African-American poet who was born just outside the district. The only African-American in his Dayton Central High School graduating class of 1890, he served as president of the literary society and chief editor of the school paper. After graduation he created a neighborhood paper called The Tattler oriented toward the African-American community, which was edited and printed by the Wright Brothers. Although no buildings in the district are specifically associated with Dunbar, his legacy is strongly tied to area’s period of significance. The effects of 1913 flooding and fires, race riots of 1967 and the subsequent economic decline, and years of neglect have significantly altered the character of the landscape, and the district currently contains a mix of historic structures, modern buildings, and vacant lots. Still, the West Third Street District retains integrity as a cohesive cultural landscape, facilitated through the efforts of preservation-minded civic organizations and the NPS. In 1989, the district was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. The cultural landscape inventory contains more detailed descriptions of the architectural features, significance, and spatial configuration of the district.

West Third Street Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, National Park Service

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