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Deep dives · Montgomery County, Greene County

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

Created by Congress in 1992, the park preserves the Wright brothers' Dayton sites, from their 1890s print and cycle shops to Huffman Prairie, where they flew in 1904-05.

At a glance

FactValue
TypeNational park
CountyMontgomery, Greene
Established1992
Coordinates39.7536 N, 84.2120 W
Flights and time aloft at Huffman Prairie, 1904 season105 flights, 49 minutes (1904)
Flights and time aloft at Huffman Prairie, 1905 season50 flights, 262 minutes (1905)
Longest 1905 flight (Wilbur, October 5)over 24 miles in 39 minutes (1905)
Students trained at the Wright school at Huffman Prairie119 (1910-1916)
Wright Flyer III weight and wing area710 lb; 503 sq ft (1905)
Share of the restored Wright Flyer III that is original materialabout 80 percent (estimate) (2000)
Price of the Wrights' top-of-the-line Van Cleve bicycle$65 (1896)
Original Hawthorn Hill estate17 acres (1914)

Overview

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, created by Congress in 1992, gathers the places in and near Dayton where Wilbur and Orville Wright worked out the airplane. On Dayton's West Side stand the Hoover Block, where the brothers ran a print shop from 1890 to 1895, and the brick shop at 22 South Williams Street, where they built bicycles from 1895 to 1897 and first turned seriously to flight. Eight miles to the northeast, on Torrence Huffman's cow pasture beside Simms Station, they learned to turn, circle and stay aloft in 1904 and 1905, producing the Wright Flyer III, which they and later historians called the first practical airplane; the same field held the Wright Company's flying school from 1910 to 1916 and is now inside Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Orville, with his friend Edward Deeds, spent his last years restoring that 1905 airplane for Deeds's Carillon Park, where it has been shown since June 1950, and he lived from 1914 until his death in 1948 at Hawthorn Hill, the Oakwood mansion the brothers designed together. The Wright Company factory buildings of 1910-1911 were added to the park in 2009.

The name

Huffman Prairie takes its name from its owner, Torrence Huffman, a West Side Dayton banker who let the Wrights use the pasture rent-free if they drove his cows to safety before flying. (source)

Native American history

No Native site is recorded at the Wrights' West Side buildings or at Hawthorn Hill in the sources consulted. Near Huffman Prairie, a group of prehistoric mounds stands on Wright Brothers Hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial, and a single Adena mound (33GR31), 86 feet across and about 8 feet high, sits on a bluff about 0.6 mile to the south, overlooking the prairie; it was listed on the National Register in 1972 and has never been excavated. Part of Huffman Prairie and adjoining land survive as undisturbed prairie remnants designated an Ohio Natural Landmark.

Stories

Printers before pilots

The brothers' first joint business was printing. In 1889 they built a press from junk iron, firewood, a gravestone and a buggy top, and it worked well enough that other firms hired them to build presses. Orville published and Wilbur edited the West Side News and the daily Evening Item, which failed for lack of support; their last editorial complained that West Siders would not believe that anything good could come out of Nazareth. From 1890 to 1895 Wright and Wright Job Printers filled orders for calling cards, posters and letterheads from a suite in the Hoover Block, and printed the Dayton Tattler for Orville's high-school classmate Paul Laurence Dunbar, a paper for Dayton's Black community that lasted three issues. In 1909 the same West Side founded an aeroplane club in the Hoover Block to honor its two neighborhood sons. (source)

The bicycle shop and the news from Germany

Dayton had 14 bicycle shops in 1894-95, four within two blocks of the Wrights' new store at 22 South Williams Street. Late in 1895 the brothers decided to build their own bicycles, named the top model the Van Cleve for their pioneer ancestors and priced it at $65, and fitted out a back-room machine shop with a lathe, drill press and brazing equipment run by a one-cylinder engine they designed themselves. In August 1896 Orville caught typhoid fever from a tainted well behind the shop and was bedridden until October. In the same weeks, word came over the printing firm's news service that the German glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal had died in a crash on August 10. Wilbur later dated his active interest in flight to that notice. (source)

Flying over the cows at Huffman Prairie

Flying at Kitty Hawk was expensive, so in 1904 the brothers took the interurban to a roughly 100-acre pasture beside Simms Station, eight miles from Dayton. Its owner, banker Torrence Huffman, let them use it rent-free if they would drive his cows out of the way first. Wilbur told Octave Chanute the field was an old swamp full of grassy hummocks that made it resemble a prairie-dog town, and Chanute replied that he hoped they would not run into a cow. Light winds made takeoffs hard, so in September 1904 they built a 30-foot derrick that dropped a 1,600-pound weight to catapult the airplane down its rail. That month they made the first airborne turn and the first full circle, and on October 5, 1905, Wilbur stayed up more than 39 minutes. With spectators and reporters gathering, and no patent or sale yet secured, they packed up their equipment after 155 starts over two seasons and left the field. (source)

A flying school and the first air freight

In May 1910 Orville moved the Wright Company's flying school from Montgomery, Alabama, to Huffman Prairie, which the company also used to test every airplane it built. Between May 1910 and February 1916 the school trained 119 students, among them Lt. Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold, who led the Army's air arm in World War II; Cal Rodgers, the first person to fly across the United States; and Marjorie Stinson. On November 7, 1910, with Orville and Katharine Wright watching, company pilot Phil Parmalee took off from the field with ten bolts of silk and flew them 62 miles to a department store in Columbus, the country's first commercial air-freight flight. The school closed in 1916, and the next year the field became part of the Army's Wilbur Wright Field. (source)

Lindbergh on the balcony at Hawthorn Hill

Orville's house in Oakwood, completed in 1914 and filled with his gadgets, from a chain-and-rod system that let him run the furnace from upstairs to a bread slicer-toaster, drew visitors including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and President Franklin Roosevelt. On June 22, 1927, Charles Lindbergh, flying home to St. Louis weeks after crossing the Atlantic, stopped to see Orville. His backers had asked him to make no public appearances, but a crowd gathered on the lawn and would not leave. Lindbergh and Orville finally stepped out onto the front balcony for a few minutes, and the crowd went home. After Orville died on January 30, 1948, Edward Deeds of the National Cash Register Company bought the estate as a guest house for visitors and dignitaries. (source)

The first pilot's last project

In the mid-1940s Edward Deeds, chairman of NCR and Orville's friend, planned a history village in Dayton and wanted a Wright airplane in it. Deeds first thought of a replica of the 1903 Kitty Hawk machine, but Orville believed enough of the 1905 Flyer III survived to restore it: he still had its engine, propellers and chain guides, and its airframe had been salvaged and stored for decades at the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts. Other parts had been carried off by Kitty Hawk boys who broke into the Wrights' shed for souvenirs; NCR's Carl Buest tracked them down as grown men, and one, by then a minister, helped round up the pieces. Orville met Deeds for lunch as the work went on and helped design Wright Hall, where visitors look down on the airplane from a circling walkway. He died in January 1948 before it was done; the airplane, estimated at about 80 percent original, was the centerpiece of Carillon Park's opening on June 3, 1950. (source)

Timeline

  • 1889: Wilbur and Orville open their first job-printing business in a rented room in Dayton and publish the weekly West Side News and the daily Evening Item on a press they built themselves. (source)
  • 1890: Wright and Wright Job Printers moves into a second-floor suite of the new Hoover Block at West Third and South Williams streets, where it stays until 1895 and prints Paul Laurence Dunbar's short-lived Dayton Tattler. (source)
  • 1892: The brothers open their first bicycle shop, repairing and selling bicycles at 1005 West Third Street. (source)
  • 1895: The Wright Cycle Company moves to 22 South Williams Street, combining the bicycle and printing businesses under one roof. (source)
  • 1896: The Wrights begin building their own bicycles, the $65 Van Cleve and the cheaper St. Clair, in a machine shop powered by the first engine they ever built. (source)
  • 1896: While Orville lies ill with typhoid fever from the shop's well, news of glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal's death on August 10 reaches the shop over the printing business's wire service and turns Wilbur's thoughts to flight. (source)
  • 1897: In the fall the business moves to 1127 West Third Street, where the brothers will build their gliders and the 1903 airplane. (source)
  • 1899: In August the Wrights fly a biplane kite in a vacant lot in west Dayton to test wing-warping for roll control, and it works. (source)
  • 1901: In the fall the brothers run an intensive program of wind-tunnel tests on model wings in their West Third Street shop. (source)
  • 1904: On May 26 Orville makes the first of more than a hundred starts at Huffman Prairie; on September 7 the brothers first use their weight-and-derrick catapult; on September 20 Wilbur flies the world's first complete circle in an airplane. (source)
  • 1905: Orville makes the first flight of the Wright Flyer III at Huffman Prairie on June 23. (source)
  • 1905: On October 5 Wilbur flies more than 24 miles in 39 minutes; about two weeks later the brothers end their experiments for the year, believing they now have a practical airplane they can market. (source)
  • 1906: The Wrights' patent on their flying machine is issued on May 22. (source)
  • 1909: West Side businessmen found the International Dayton Aeroplane Club at the Hoover Block in May to honor the brothers on their return from Europe. (source)
  • 1909: The Wright Company is established on November 22 with New York and Detroit investors; its factory is built in Dayton. (source)
  • 1910: The Wright Company's two factory buildings in Dayton, the first in the United States built specifically to make airplanes, are put up in 1910 and 1911. (source)
  • 1910: Orville moves the Wright School of Aviation from Montgomery, Alabama, to Huffman Prairie in May; Wilbur makes his last flight as a pilot in America there on May 21. (source)
  • 1910: On November 7 Wright pilot Phil Parmalee flies ten bolts of silk 62 miles from Huffman Prairie to a Columbus department store, America's first commercial air-freight flight. (source)
  • 1912: Wilbur Wright, who had helped design Hawthorn Hill, dies of typhoid fever on May 30 at age 45. (source)
  • 1914: Hawthorn Hill is completed in Oakwood, and Orville, his sister Katharine and their father, Bishop Milton Wright, move in. (source)
  • 1916: The flying school at Huffman Prairie closes after training 119 students between May 1910 and February 1916; in 1917 the field becomes part of Wilbur Wright Field. (source)
  • 1918: Orville makes his last flight as a pilot on May 13, in a 1911 Wright model beside a new Dayton-Wright DH-4. (source)
  • 1927: Charles Lindbergh visits Orville at Hawthorn Hill on June 22, weeks after his Atlantic flight, and the two appear on the balcony to satisfy the crowd outside. (source)
  • 1936: With Orville's endorsement, Henry Ford buys the 1127 West Third Street shop and moves it to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, where it is dedicated in 1938. (source)
  • 1939: A concrete pylon is erected on Huffman Prairie to mark the Wrights' hangar site as part of a memorial to the brothers. (source)
  • 1948: Orville Wright dies on January 30; National Cash Register buys Hawthorn Hill as a corporate guest house, reportedly on the day the For Sale sign went up. (source)
  • 1950: Carillon Historical Park opens to the public on June 3 with the restored 1905 Wright Flyer III as its centerpiece in Wright Hall. (source)
  • 1990: The Wright Cycle Company building is designated a National Historic Landmark. (source)
  • 1990: Huffman Prairie Flying Field is designated a National Historic Landmark. (source)
  • 1991: The 1905 Wright Flyer III is named a National Historic Landmark. (source)
  • 1992: Congress creates Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (designated October 16), and Jerry Sharkey donates the Williams Street shop he had saved from demolition. (source)
  • 2006: In August NCR gives Hawthorn Hill to the Wright Family Foundation, which asks Dayton History to manage it and open it for tours. (source)
  • 2008: The Interior Department places Huffman Prairie, Wright Hall with the 1905 Flyer, and the Wright Cycle Company building on the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List as the Dayton Aviation Sites. (source)
  • 2008: Hawthorn Hill is added to the same Dayton Aviation Sites tentative listing in January. (source)
  • 2009: Hawthorn Hill becomes part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in March. (source)
  • 2009: The two 1910-1911 Wright Company factory buildings are included within the park boundary. (source)
  • 2013: Ownership of Hawthorn Hill is transferred to Dayton History in June. (source)

Sources

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Questions

What is Huffman Prairie Flying Field?

Huffman Prairie Flying Field is the cow pasture beside Simms Station, eight miles from Dayton, where the Wright brothers learned to turn, circle and stay aloft in 1904 and 1905. Its owner, banker Torrence Huffman, let them use it rent-free if they drove his cows out of the way first. Wilbur flew the world's first complete circle in an airplane there on September 20, 1904. The field is now inside Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

What did the Wright brothers do before airplanes?

Before airplanes, the Wright brothers were printers and bicycle makers. In 1889 they built a press from junk iron, firewood, a gravestone and a buggy top, and from 1890 to 1895 they ran Wright and Wright Job Printers in the Hoover Block. The Wright Cycle Company moved to 22 South Williams Street in 1895, and in 1896 they began building their own bicycles, including the $65 Van Cleve.

How long did the Wright brothers fly at Huffman Prairie?

The Wrights' longest flight at Huffman Prairie came on October 5, 1905, when Wilbur flew more than 24 miles in 39 minutes. In the 1904 season they made 105 flights totaling 49 minutes in the air, and in 1905 they made 50 flights totaling 262 minutes. After 155 starts over two seasons, and with spectators and reporters gathering, they packed up and left the field.

Where is the 1905 Wright Flyer III?

The restored 1905 Wright Flyer III is in Wright Hall at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, where it has been shown since the park opened on June 3, 1950. Orville Wright worked with his friend Edward Deeds of NCR on its restoration and helped design Wright Hall, but he died in January 1948 before it was finished. The airplane is estimated at about 80 percent original material and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

Who lived at Hawthorn Hill in Oakwood?

Orville Wright lived at Hawthorn Hill, the Oakwood mansion the brothers designed together, from its completion in 1914 until his death on January 30, 1948. His sister Katharine and their father, Bishop Milton Wright, moved in with him; Wilbur died of typhoid fever on May 30, 1912, before it was finished. Visitors included Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Franklin Roosevelt and Charles Lindbergh, who stopped there on June 22, 1927.

What was the first commercial air freight flight?

The first commercial air-freight flight in the United States took off from Huffman Prairie on November 7, 1910. With Orville and Katharine Wright watching, Wright Company pilot Phil Parmalee flew ten bolts of silk 62 miles to a department store in Columbus. The Wright Company's flying school at the field trained 119 students between May 1910 and February 1916, among them Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold, Cal Rodgers and Marjorie Stinson.

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