Intro

The Metropolitan Area

Oregon District

The Oregon District is the historical part of the city. Everything is perfectly preserved from several decades ago, and in general the district looks nice and colourful because of it. If someone lives there, he must get a permit to do construction, and as a result, the Oregon district has never been 'slummed down' like nearby areas.

The most popular bar in the Oregon District is undoubtedly Schloopy's¹.

Downtown

The buildings, areas and structures of Dayton are almost unknown to outsiders, but Daytonians will know them well.

• Schuster Performing Arts Center is the newest addition to the cultural side of Dayton. It is named for Benjamin and Merriam Schuster, Daytonians who contributed a substantial amount of money for the building's creation. It has a huge dome and modern seating for its theatre and several other amenities. The center opened in 2003 to a gala reception.

• The Kettering Tower, more popularly referred to as the Racquet Club tower is the tallest building in Dayton, at 30 stories. The Racquet Club, which occupies most of the tower is one of Dayton's most exclusive fashionable private clubs. The upper floors are occupied by the Racquet Club, and the lower floors have various commercial stores.

• The (Former) Mead Tower is a tall, tan building that used to headquarter Mead Paper until they merged with the Seattle based Westvaco and changed their headquarters. It is still popularly referred to as the Mead Tower even though Mendelson's Liquidation bought the tower.

• Mendelsohn's Liquidation is a Dayton based outlet chain. They have almost a dozen locations. Each outlet is huge and provides small prices for almost anything.

• Statue of Private Wright is a statue in a boulevard in downtown Dayton. It is the focal point of the entire street.

• Fifth Third Bank Tower is the third largest tower in Dayton. It provides a regional headquarters to the Fifth Third Bank Corporation, despite their national HQ being in nearby Cincinnatti.

• The Flight Monument in downtown is another legacy of the Wright Brothers. It commemorates their first flight with a white structure mimicking the bumps and length of the Wright's first flight.

• Victoria Theatre was the only major outlet for theater for many years until the Schuster Performing Arts Center was built. It is an old, classy theater from the 1800s. Partly because of its old, mysterious nature, it is mentioned prominently in most books on haunted places in Ohio. Legend has it that an actress who disappered in the early 1900s named Vicky haunts the theater.

• Fifth Third Field is the stadium home of the Dayton Dragons baseball team. It was made fairly recently. At the end of the stadium is the 'Dragon's Den' where home run balls are often hit.

• Old River Park is basically a country club adjacent to the NCR building. It has tennis courts and a pool that isn't used anymore. The main use of it is the huge number of soccer fields.

Across the Rivers

• Flightscape is a plaza celebrating the acheivements of the Wright Brothers. It has a statue of Orville Wright depicting the moment he discovered wingwarping, secret to controlled flight. It will be used as the main place for the 2003 celebrations of the Wright Brothers flight.

• Riverscape is a plaza where the Mad and Great Miami Rivers rivers meet. It has several water, fireworks and laser shows, often after baseball games. There are many beautiful landscaping displays and flower baskets. The park occasionally has entertainment and festivals in it.

• University of Dayton is one of the USA's largest private Catholic Universities. It is home to two teams named 'the Flyers', a basketball and football team named for the Wright Brothers. The campus contains three libraries.

• The Dayton Daily News is the newspaper of the city. The Dayton Daily building is very modern looking, arguably the most modern looking building in the city.

• Carillon Park

• Fairfield Mall

• Dayton Mall

• Wright Patterson Air Force Base

The Rivers

The city of Dayton was built at the place where three rivers, the Great Miami, the Stillwater and the Mad met. But somehow, the Little Miami continues to exist nearby to Dayton.

The Great Miami River is defined as the widest river. It goes right through downtown and runs paralell to the Little Miami River. Both were named for the Miami tribe which inhabited the Miami Valley² first.

The Little Miami River

The Stillwater River

The Mad River

Recreation

The Beach Waterpark, though not exactly in Dayton is one of the biggest attractions for Daytonians during the summer. Two of the 'lazy river' rides, (In which you sit on an inner-tube and float around an artifical stream) are named after the Dayton rivers, the Great Miami and Little Miami.

Things from Dayton

Donahue

Wright Brothers

US/NATO Agreement

Sports

Dayton Raiders

Dayton Dragons

Dayton Flyers - Basketball

Dayton Flyers - Football

Dayton Bombers

The Arts

Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Dayton Opera

Dayton Ballet

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

Inventing Flight

A Rivalry with North Carolina

In an Independence day speech on July 4, 2003, Ohio Senator Mike DeWine said-

...it's all been good natured, but we've had to remind [the North Carolina congressmen] of Huffman Prarie³
and we've had to remind them of a little bicycle shop...

There is a small rivalry between the states of Ohio and North Carolina, because of the Wright Brothers, who helped invent the aeroplane. They were raised in Dayton and worked on their planes there, but their first sucessful test of flight was in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Ohio contends that its contribution (Giving the Wrights) flight was more important, while North Carolina thinks that its contribution (Wind, sand etc) helped the Wright Brothers more.

Bush Visit

Celebrations