Dayton Ohio History

Dayton was founded in 1796 by Israel Ludlow along the Miami River near the mouth of the Mad River. The war of 1812 made Dayton a strategic location and the population quickly increased. During the war, it was an embarkation point for American attacks into Canada and on British troops in the northwest. Both during and after the war, factories and mills quickly sprung into action, including a tobacco factory, textile mills, and several other establishments. These factories and buildings saw huge benefits from wartime indurstries during the world wars, particularly the second. The city received an estimated $1.7 billion in government defense contracts during that time. The city has a maintained a small but steady comercial and population growth since that period. The present population sits at 166,000. The Wright Brothers Wilbur and Orville, who owned and operated a local bicycle and print shop, began testing what would become the world’s first flyable machine in Dayton, although the first official flight was recorded at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1913, a great flood destroyed much of the city, although it was quickly repaired. In the same year Dayton became the first large American city to adopt the commission-manager form of government, a system it still uses to this day. Famous Natives include of course the Wrights, but also humorist Erma Bombeck, actor Martin Sheen, and actress Allison Janney.