Employees of the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company stand on the wings of the Dayton-Wright RB-1. Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University.

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Writing in the wake of the infamous Easter Day flood of the Great Miami River of 1913, the Boston Evening Transcript called Dayton the “City of a Thousand Factories.” Among the most famous manufacturers were the railway builders Barney & Smith Car Company, the internationally renowned National Cash Register (NCR), and a host of automobile component manufacturers. While natural disasters like the flood and corporate takeovers have adversely affected the operations of the city’s remarkable industrial heritage, significant elements of that history remain for touring within the city and to the north along the I-75 corridor. Of particular importance for this year’s Society for Industrial Archeology Fall Tour are historic elements relating to Dayton as the home of the aviation industry through its connection with the Wright brothers. Today Dayton is best known as the home to the National Museum of the US Air Force, and multiple opportunities to visit it are being planned for conference registrants.

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SIA Dayton Fall Tour Sites & Venues

Follow this Link for Tour Site Descriptions

Thursday, September 27

Optional Tour (7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

• National Voice of America (VOA) Museum of Broadcasting, West Chester
• WLW Transmitter, West Chester
• Roebling Suspension Bridge
• Verdin Company (Bell Casting)

Opening Reception, Dayton Power & Light Steam Plant (6:30 – 8:30 p.m.)

Friday, September 28

(Breakfast 6:45 – 7:45 a.m.)

Tour A (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

• Taylorsville Dam
• Hobart Manufacturers
• Hartzell Propeller, Piqua
• WACO Museum, Troy
• Eldean Covered Bridge, Troy

Tour B (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.)        

• Airstream Travel Trailers, Jackson Center
• Sidney Courthouse Square & People’s Bank
• French Oil Mill Machinery Company, Piqua
• WACO Museum, Troy
• Eldean Covered Bridge, Troy

Saturday, September 29 (8 a.m – 9 p.m. (including tours & banquet))

(Breakfast 6:45 – 7:45 a.m.)

• Mound Cold War Discovery Center
• National Museum of the US Air Force

Closing Banquet & Tour at Staley Mill Farm & Indian Creek Distillery

Please note the tour bus will proceed directly from the Air Force Museum to the Staley Mill Farm without stopping at the tour hotel.

Sunday, September 30

Optional Tours on Your Own

• Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center
• Paul Laurence Dunbar House
• Carillon Historical Park
• Wright Company buildings (exterior photo stop only)
• National Museum of the US Air Force

Independent IA Touring

Dayton offers sites of IA and historic interest beyond those formally included in the Fall Tour. These include:

• America’s Packard Museum (open 12-5pm, $5 admission)
• Greater Dayton Regional Transportation Authority Hub
• Oregon Historic District
• Mendelsons

Please note this schedule has been updated since it was printed in the Fall Tour brochures that were mailed to SIA members. Tour schedules are subject to change.

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Aerial view of the Museum of the United States Air Force.

Birds-eye view of Dayton, Ohio, ca. 1870. Note industrial facilities depicted along the bottom of the drawing. Image source: Library of Congress.

The tool department at National Cash Register, ca. 1902. Image source: Library of Congress.

Worker housing for National Cash Register, 1896. Image source: Library of Congress.

Top photo: Side view of Wilbur Wright gliding in level flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Image Source: Library of Congress.