USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 20
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namented with dressed stone, and is well adapted as a temple of justice. However, it is already pronounced much too small for the purposes of the county.
It was the original design that the first floor should be occupied by the offices of the treasurer, the auditor, the recorder, the probate judge, the county com- missioners, the surveyor and the prosecuting attorney. The next floor was to be occupied by two court rooms, judges' rooms, law library, the offices of the clerk and sheriff, witness rooms and so forth. The third floor was to contain offices for other county officers and rooms for various other purposes. It was seriously pro- posed to tear down the old court house as having no further purpose to fill. How inadequate the conceptions of the time were is shown by the later use of both court houses.
COUNTY MEMORIAL BUILDING.
The only other county building erected in Dayton since 1880 is the splendid county memorial building now being completed.
POSTOFFICE BUILDING.
The federal government, just at the urgent moment, came to the aid of Day- ton in the erecting of the postoffice building which was installed in 1892. The cost of the building and grounds was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. An appropriation of three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the en- largement of the postoffice building assures us that the credit of the general gov- ernment and of the city will not suffer in the future. The building, in addition to its serving as a postoffice, serves a number of federal purposes, among them the furnishing of an office for the port of entry established in 1904. Another feature that at the same time declares the greatness of Dayton and the greatness of the country at large is the Mercantile corporation, manufacturing the entire amount of stamped envelopes and wrappers for the United States government, which established its factory in Dayton in 1907. Five million envelopes and two hundred thousand wrappers are manufactured daily.
SOME OTHER BUILDINGS.
The county jail completed in 1874, and the new court house completed in 1884, were the first public buildings marking the change from an irregular, half-con- scious town to an awakened city of solid character and teeming life. The library building erected in Cooper Park in 1886-7 fittingly came in as the next structure to adorn and serve the city. The Steele high school building recognized when com- pleted in 1893 as the second best high school building in the United States, is a compliment to the interest of the citizens of Dayton in the work of education. The recognition of new and larger demands on education from the field of in- dustrial life is expressed in the erection in 1908-9 of the model manual training high school on East Fifth street. Some of our recently erected district school buildings are models of their class.
The buildings named proclaim a devotion to something beyond mere material splendor. Emphasizing the same fact are the spacious and majestic churches
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erected in recent years, the Young Men's Christian Association building, the cor- nerstone of which was laid April 28, 1907 by President William H. Taft, then secretary of war, and the prospective new buildings for the Woman's Christian Association and the Young Woman's league. In this connection no one would overlook the groups of splendid buildings belonging to our two hospitals.
No improvement really changed the appearance of the city more than the building of the new union railway station completed in January, 1901. Divisions among the railway companies, the idea that tracks might later be elevated, and every other hindrance stood in the way of Dayton's aspiration to have the prestige and advantage that a large and attractive railway station would afford. The credit for securing the present superb station is largely due to the efforts of the board of trade formed and well-nigh expiring with its effort in that direction.
The Masonic Temple, formerly the Main street Lutheran church, between Fourth and Fifth streets, is a stately and imposing structure. The church was purchased at a cost of one hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars and by the expenditure of one hundred thousand dollars more in 1907-8, was thoroughly transformed and adapted to its new purposes.
The building erected by the Dayton club at the southwest corner of Main and First streets is an attractive and spacious building. It was built and is managed and maintained by people of wealth of social prominence.
The National Cash Register Company, organized in 1884, is spoken of here, not on account of the greatness and completeness of its factory facilities, but be- cause of the great group of splendid buildings and spacious grounds that it has added to the city.
APARTMENT HOUSES AND SKYSCRAPERS.
Turning from a bird's-eye view of some of our most recent and prominent public or semi-public buildings, we may notice some of the contributions to the buildings of the city recently made by individual or corporate enterprise. Im- provements in steel and cement construction, the perfecting of elevators, the de- mand for central locations and the advancing price of real estate led to the con- struction of tall buildings-building up instead of out. Dayton business men rec- ognized the demand and were prompt in meeting it.
The first skyscraper erected was the Callahan Bank building, nine stories high, erected in 1892. It furnishes a home for the Winters' and the City National banks and contains a large number of office rooms. The Reibold building, eleven stories high, followed in 1896, the annex being erected in 1904. In addition to the rooms used for commercial purposes, there are three hundred and five office rooms. The Conover Building Company, incorporated in 1900, erected a thirteen story build- ing at the southeast corner of Main and Third. The fourteen-story United Breth- ren office building was erected in 1904-5. Besides the first two stories used for commercial purposes, it contains one hundred and ninety-two offices, or reckon- ing the office space of the entire building, two hundred and twenty-four rooms. The newest office building is the ten-story Commercial building at the corner of Fourth and Ludlow.
The Dayton Arcade is in a class to itself. It is almost a village within itself in the very heart of the city. The large and well equipped all-day market, the
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CONOVER BUILDING
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cold-storage rooms in the basement, the forty-four store-rooms, two hundred and seven offices, sixteen living apartments and twenty-one two-room bachelor apart- ments unite in making a combination unlike anything else in the country. The Arcade Market Compay was incorporated in 1901.
Some of the best known apartment houses are the Insco, occupying the site of the Newcom tavern at the southwest corner of Main street and Monument avenue, the Bellevue on Main street north of the bridge, facing the Miami river, and the Rotterman, 39 and 41 West Third street. There are more than two dozen besides and the number is fast increasing. The difficulty in obtaining domestic help, and the more frequent changes made by persons in business are influences against in- dependent and permanent homes.
HOTELS.
The Algonquin hotel of concrete and steel construction, built in 1899 as an apartment house on the southwest corner of Third and Ludlow streets, began in the following year to be operated as a hotel. In 1904, the extensive second part was added to the structure. It is now the largest as well as the newest of Day- ton's large hotels. It has more than three hundred rooms. The main banqueting hall will seat five hundred guests. The roof garden, not open on Sunday nights, is a notable feature.
The Atlas Hotel was completed in 1893. It has eighty rooms.
The Phillips House, erected in 1850-52 in its size and substantial character an- ticipated somewhat future demands and remains an attractive and popular hotel. It has one hundred and forty rooms. In its history it has been honored by the presence of many noted guests.
The Beckel House was begun on the site of the William Huffman stone store and dwelling at the northwest corner of Third and Jefferson streets in 1853, but it was not completed and used as a hotel under the name of the Beckel House till 1866. About 1883, the building known as the Phoenix hotel, formerly the Na- tional hotel, built in 1828, was removed and the west wing of the Beckel House took its place. The hotel proper has one hundred and fifty rooms.
STREET PAVING.
Dayton was very slow to take up street paving. The abundance and cheap- ness of gravel and the failure to recognize that the town was growing into a city caused people to defer or oppose paving. The time came when the graveled streets would no longer stand the heavy traffic to which they were subjected. A part of Fifth street, the first street paved, was paved with granite blocks in 1888. For some time it was the only paved street. In 1891 parts of Wayne avenue, River, Washington and Germantown, North Main, Fifth, and North and South Mar- ket streets were paved. These streets were mostly in the outskirts in which it was safe promptly to declare the protests "rejected." In 1892, all of the streets in the center of the city were paved except Third street. That street was contracted to be paved with granite blocks and the blocks were piled all along the street. But the blocks were objected to as not being in accord with specifications
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and the contract was annulled. The next year, the street was paved with asphalt. In the time of this delay, however, trade was to some extent diverted from Third street to Main street, an advantage which Main street continued to hold. In 1893 and 1894, paving was extended from the center of the city in all directions, asphalt and Hayden blocks being almost altogether used. The three following years, being panic years, little paving was done, and in 1898 none was done. Afterward, at first slowly and then more rapidly, paving was carried forward till in 1909 the city has fifty-eight miles of paved streets.
SEWERS.
Dayton was slow to adopt sewers. It was universally said that in the gravel underlying the city, Dayton had a natural and costless system of drainage. In 1890, the city was divided into eight sewer districts and sewers constructed in the first sewer district including the central parts of the city. Sewers have been ex- tended to other districts until now, in 1909, the people are surprised to find the work of sewer extension almost completed and equally surprised that the work was not begun earlier. In 1909, there were one hundred and fifty miles of sanitary sewers and ninety miles of storm sewers.
BRIDGES.
The earlier wooden and iron bridges have been forced to give place to bridges of concrete and steel construction. Dayton was among the first cities to adopt this style of a bridge, and representatives from other cities where bridges were to be constructed have come to inspect the Dayton bridges which are justifying well all that was expected of them.
The iron bridge at Main street which had displaced the original wooden bridge at that place in 1870 was itself displaced by the present beautiful and substantial concrete bridge in 1902-3.
The concrete bridge at Third street displaced in 1904-5 the covered wooden bridge erected in 1839.
The Washington street concrete bridge similar in construction, only nar- rower and shorter than the Third street bridge was built in 1905-6.
The Dayton View bridge now (1909) in process of construction will be more artistic and complete than any of the bridges before completed.
The other iron and wooden bridges in the city are only waiting their turn to give place to concrete bridges, although one new iron bridge was placed in 1905 across the Miami at Herman avenue between Riverdale and North Dayton.
DAMS ACROSS THE MIAMI.
In order to secure an extended sheet of deep water within the limits of the city, a concrete dam was placed in 1906 across the Miami near where the old Steele dam was at a cost of eighteen thousand dollars. The result was most gratifying, especially to those interested in the Athletic park of the Young Men's Christian Association on the Stillwater and in the White City on the left bank of the Miami.
ALGONQUIN HOTEL
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But, alas! the river cut a new channel around the east end of the dam. After a long delay and at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars the dam is now being repaired and extended.
In 1906, what had been the dream of some minds for years, that there should be an unbroken expanse of water covering the entire river bed through the city became a reality. By using the timbers of the temporary bridge at Washington street, after the new bridge was ready for traffic, a temporary dam was con- structed at that point by means of which the water was backed up as far as the Main street bridge. Parts of the dam gave way at different times but were later restored and strengthened. The trial seems to justify the conceptions of those who were instrumental in securing the dam and the hope is expressed that before long the temporary dam will be replaced by a permanent one of concrete construc- tion. The name of Judge C. W. Dustin, at whose suggestion and largely at whose expense the trials thus far have been made, has been given to the lake formed by the dam and embosomed by the levees stretching through the city.
RECLAIMED LAND.
The Robert's fill giving the city two of its most beautiful streets, between the old levee and the channel of the river on the east side, north of Third street, was made in 1885. Others took up the work and extended the improvement. It is a slight token of appreciation that the city now gives to the parked street where the old levee was the name "Robert Boulevard."
A somewhat different use of land, for some time before worse than waste, was the turning of the land along the old hydraulic in Riverdale into the beautiful Great Miami Boulevard. These examples suggest that there may yet be similar great and rare possibilities waiting for discovery and use within the bounds of the city.
Of a somewhat different character was the undertaking by which the channel of the Miami river north of the city was straightened by the cutting of an ex- tended new channel at a cost of about one hundred thousand dollars, thus closing off a long bend that came down toward North Dayton bringing great danger and at times great calamities to that part of the city. The improvement was made in 1898 at the cost of the county. The city, however, paid about five thousand dol- lars in hastening the closing of a gap in the levee for the protection of north Day- ton.
FLOODS.
There was a general flood February 3, 4 and 5, 1883. The danger was in- creased by the large amount of ice that was in the rivers at that time. The water rose as high as it did in 1847, but was two feet below the high water mark of 1866. Wolf Creek rose to an unprecedented height and the flood-gate at Williams street gave way. The low land west of the levee was flooded. The southern portion of the city was covered with water. There was a general fear that the levees would give way and in places it was necessary to raise the levees by bags of sand and bales of hay. The levees, however, held and the city was saved from a great dis- aster. Levees were afterward strengthened and extended.
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May 12, 1886, a heavy rain-fall accompanied by a shower of hail occurred in the valleys of the streams centering in Dayton. In the southern and some of the other parts of the city water collected to a depth to swim a horse, and much dam- age was done to goods in cellars. The rain was specially heavy up Wolf creek causing great amounts of loose timber, brush and all sorts of materials to float down and lodge against the railroad bridge, making a great dam that held the water back so as to form a lake as far up as the Hoover and Gaines nursery. At length the high railroad embankment east of the bridge gave way, allowing a free course for a tide that swept a number of houses from their foundations and in- undated a large territory on the west side. A longer railroad bridge was soon afterward constructed over Wolf creek and the next year a new and more direct channel, lined by strong levees, was constructed for Wolf creek from the railroad bridge to its junction with the Miami river.
In 1897 and again in 1898, there were great floods in North Dayton caused by the swollen waters of the Miami making a direct course from the bend in the river north of the city across North Dayton to Mad river. Great damage was done and great suffering was caused to the large number of people who were driven from their homes. The people of the city responded to the need with generous aid. The straightening of the channel of the Miami, already referred to greatly les- sens if it does not entirely remove the possibility of the recurrence of like calamities.
Riverdale, in the lower grounds near the river, has experienced floods at dif- ferent times, chiefly because of the condition of the hydraulic in that part of the city, but, with the closing of the hydraulic, that danger is entirely removed.
Notwithstanding the dangers involved, now greatly diminished, Dayton prizes her rivers and will use them for the practical advantages that they afford and also for the opportunities they offer for adding beauty and adornment to the city.
RECENT INVENTIONS AND APPLIANCES.
While Dayton has been slow in adopting some improvements, she has been prompt in adopting others. Among the first street railways in the United States using electricity as a means of propulsion was the White Line railway in the city of Dayton. Service on this line was established in 1887.
A telephone system, the Bell, was established in August 1879. The Home Tel- ephone Company, after many delays was at length given by the probate court the right to establish its system in competition with that of the Bell Company. It be- gan construction in 1901 and began operation in 1903. The automatic switch board, introduced by the company in Dayton, had not before been used in a large exchange such as was established in Dayton, and was regarded by many as of doubtful success. The system as first installed provided for six thousand main line telephones.
Dayton was up with the rest of the country in the use of electric lights which were introduced in 1883. Four years later electricity was first used for the light- ing of buildings.
Natural gas was introduced into Dayton, through a local company, in 1889.
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The Ice Manufacturing Company was incorporated in December, 1889, and soon the supply of ice was no longer dependent on the caprice of weather conditions.
Dayton's history as one of the leading traction centers of the country began with the construction of the Cincinnati and Dayton traction line in 1895.
The people of Dayton take some pride in the fact that the municipal asphalt repair plant established in 1907-8 was the first established in the larger cities of the country and that the innovation here adopted has been followed in other places.
The first public play grounds established in 1907-8 at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars and temporary play grounds established in different parts of the city indicate the trend for the future.
Whoever, a few years hence, undertakes to carry forward the story of Dayton will be able to tell of the almost complete southeastern market house, with its up- to-date arrangements, the public comfort station, the popular astronomy observa- tory, the union traction station and many other things that are already more sub- stantial than dreams.
SOME NOTABLE OCCASIONS.
While Dayton is not specially noted for enthusiasm she could, as she did join heartily with the rest of the country in celebrating great national events as in the celebration of the return of peace after the war of 1812, the semi-centennial of the declaration of independence in 1826, the return of peace after the Mexican war and the great Civil war, and the national centennial in 1876. In 1892 she joined with all America in celebrating the discovery of the New World four centuries before.
COLUMBIAN CELEBRATION.
October 22, 1892, was observed as "Columbus day." There was an immense procession of military and civil societies, and especially of school children. Chil- dren learned or were impressed with more history in a few days than they had been able to gather in many months.
DAYTON'S CENTENNIAL.
A celebration that was Dayton's own was the celebration of the founding of the city in 1796. The celebration began September 14 and continued with increas- ing enthusiasm for three days. At 2 p. m. of the first day, there were commemora- tive exercises at the Log Cabin in Van Cleve park. John H. Patterson presided. Mayor Linxweiler delivered an address of welcome. Governor Bushnell, with three members of his staff, was present and gave an address. Mr. Wilbur C. Kennedy delivered the centennial address. On the morning of the second occurred the school parade. Eleven thousand pupils of the public schools carrying flags and ban- ners, accompanied by teachers and the members of the board of education, and the pupils of the parochial schools with their teachers, formed one of the grandest pageants ever witnessed by the citizens of Dayton. In the evening the Venetian carnival took place on the river between the Main street and Dayton View bridges. Of the events of the third day an enthusiastic student of Steele high school wrote,
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"The celebration in the forenoon and evening of the third day outdid anything that Dayton, or even some larger and older cities, had ever witnessed. Pen cannot do justice to the brilliant and all-eclipsing pageant of the morning, the strength, beauty and magnificence of the marching thousands, which formed the grand and stupendous civic-industrial parade that was viewed by the thousands upon thou- sands of Dayton's citizens and the people of neighboring cities and towns." The celebration closed with the carnival of mimics in the evening, which, at least to the young people was the culmination of the entire celebration.
This may be the most fitting place to notice the saving of that worthy relic, the Log Cabin and the establishment of Van Cleve Park as it was the spirit of the cen- tennial celebration that led to these results. After the Log Cabin had stood almost unchanged for a century, it was proposed to tear it down in order to erect on its site the Insco building. The venerable Thomas Brown raised his voice in protest and Judge C. W. Dustin and John H. Patterson came to the rescue and the cabin was saved. An important part was also performed by Miss Mary Davies Steele, Mrs. Charles W. Gephart and Mrs. Belle Stout Sutton. The house itself was pre- sented to the city by Charles I. Williams, the architect, and the care of it till some time after it was transferred to its new location was in the hands of the Log Cabin society. After the organization of the Dayton Historical society, the care of the Log Cabin was formally turned over to that society. The Dayton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution undertook the improvement of the grounds and Dayton citizens and firms made liberal contributions. What additional is necessary to be told is well expressed in the following inscription beautifully framed and hung on the walls of the Log Cabin: "Van Cleve Park, the landing place of the first settlers of Dayton. Named in honor of John W. Van Cleve. Land donated for a park by Messrs. Richard C. Anderson, James Campbell and Samuel B. Smith."
THE WRIGHT CELEBRATION.
A festive occasion so recent as almost to seem not to need a notice was the cel- ebration in honor of Wilbur and Orville Wright. aeroplane inventors, extending through June 17 and 18, 1909. At 9 o'clock in the forenoon of the first day, quaint formal exercises were conducted at Van Cleve park at which the keys of the city were presented to the distinguished inventors. Hon. J. Sprigg McMahon presided and Hon. Ezra M. Kuhns delivered an address of welcome. Other ap- propriate addresses were made.
A drill and exhibition run of the fire department occurred in the afternoon. In the evening there was an elaborate fireworks display. In the evening there was also a splendid reception in the building of the Young Men's Christian Association. The next day a mass of people estimated at seventy-five thousand crowded the fair grounds to witness the bestowing of the medals granted by the federal government, the State of Ohio and the city of Dayton, and presented by their respective repre- sentatives General James Allen, Governor Harmon and Mayor Burkhardt. On receiving the medals Wilbur Wright made a suitable response to which Orville Wright joined a few words. Distinguished men from different parts of the United States and other countries were present. The sight that attracted most attention was a human flag formed by two thousand five hundred school children suitably
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