Wilbur Wright Birthplace and Museum

No matter where you’re coming from, the Wilbur Wright Birthplace and Museum is likely to be a bit out of the way. But for aviation or history buffs, the trip is well worth it. Wilbur and his younger brother Orville invented and then demonstrated the first successful airplane in 1903.

In 1867, Wilbur Wright was born at a farmhouse in Hagerstown, Ind., which is an hour northwest of Miami, Ohio, a little more than an hour west of Dayton and an hour east of Indianapolis. Wilbur was the third child born to Milton Wright, a minister (later bishop) in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and his wife. (Orville, child No. 6, was born in 1871, after the family had moved to Dayton, Ohio.)

Visitors can see the farmhouse where Wilbur was a boy. The house is decorated with period furniture; however, the only furniture the museum owns that belonged to the Wright family when they lived there is a family organ on display in the museum.

The museum boasts a replica of the biplane the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Dec. 17, 1903. While the original is at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.  the replica that hangs at the Wilbur Wright Birthplace’s museum is one Bufford J. Gross of Peru, Ind., spent 10 years building. Except for using Dacron on the airplane’s wing, Gross’ replica is identical.

The museum also has replicated the kitchen at the camp building where the Wright brothers lived at Kitty Hawk in 1902 and 1903. Cans line shelves; pots, saucepans and coffee cups dangle from hooks, and the table is laid for a meal. You can also see some of the notes Wilbur Wright in notebooks behind glass.

Milton Wright was elevated to bishop in 1877, and he and his family moved quite a bit. By 1912, Bishop was at United Brethren church New Castle, Ind., and his son Wilbur donated $250 toward an eight-by-four-foot stained glass window, made in Kokomo, Ind., for the church. On May 30, 1912, Wilbur died of typhoid fever he had contracted the month before and did not live to see the window dedicated days later, on June 2.

After the New Castle, Ind., church was torn down, the stained-glass window Wilbur gave as his last gift to his father came to the museum at the Wilbur Wright Birthplace, where you can admire its beauty and ponder its sad history.

The museum is open for tours from April 1 to Nov. 1 (except for Easter Sunday). Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Bus tours can come at other times by appointment, weather permitting. Both guided and self-guided tours are available.

Admission is $2 per student, $3 per chaperone (teacher and bus driver admitted free), $3 for senior citizens and $4 for other adults. Two parents and two children can pay a family rate of $10 for all of them. 

- by Bill Wolfe, Dayton Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Bill Wolfe

Bill Wolfe is an experienced journalist with a broad background in writing, editing and photography. He has worked as staff writer at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., and the Atlanta Journal & Constitution in Atlanta, Ga., covering beats ranging from consumer news to religion and business.