Dayton, Ohio

The Miami Indians aligned with the British during the American Revolution, and in an Indian town next to the Mad River, one of the longest battles of the war was fought and won by American troops led by George Rogers Clark.

In the latter part of the 1800s, Dayton became a major center for manufacturing. In 1884, John Patterson established the National Cash Register Company, which would become a cornerstone of the local economy while revolutionizing how workers were treated. Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering worked at NCR before founding the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, or DELCO.

Around the same time, the Wright Brothers founded the Wright Airplane Co., which would eventually become Inland, and DELCO and Inland would later be sold to General Motors. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base would grow into its present-day importance from humble beginnings at Huffman Prairie where the Wright Brothers tested their flying machines.

On a muggy May afternoon in 1904, Orville Wright lay prone across his plane’s lower wing. Exhausted but full of inspiration, he held on tight as his brother, Wilbur, lifted the strut. At a speed of 25 miles per hour, the plane took off from the cow pasture, flew into the blue sky and landed Dayton into the history books. The Wright Brothers had changed the world forever with their invention of powered flight!

When three strong storms hit Ohio on Easter in 1913, the Miami, Mad and Stillwater rivers rose over their banks for the 10th time in 100 years, this time devastating the city of Dayton. Dayton decided to put an end to the flooding, and an ambitious project that included the building of five earthen dams was engineered.

From the airplane to liquid crystal displays, and the step ladder to the cone for ice cream, the Dayton region is known as a mecca for visionaries.

Creative, inventive and innovative are words that have long been used to describe the people of the Dayton Region. But it’s the sheer determination of spirit that make dreams like flying come true.