Charles Herby (1846-1914) was an American architect. He designed the Centre City Building in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

Early life

Charles Herby was born in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England in 1846.Centennial Portrait and Biographical Record of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio
Pages 573-590 John W. Harries to Patrick Hickey Dayton History Books online In 1849 his family, William and Elizabeth (Johnson) Herby, came to the United States and settled on a farm near

. He had seven brothers and sisters, three who died in infancy, while two boys and two girls lived to maturity. The family home in Montgomery County was retained until 1880, when the parents removed to

Newton, Kansas Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 18,602. Newton is located north of Wichita. The city of North Newton is located immediately north and e ...

, where the father died in 1883. Soon after, Charles brought his mother to his home in Dayton, where she died in November 1895.

Career

Charles Herby worked on his father's farm and at the age of eighteen years he enlisted in Company K, thirty-first regiment of the

Ohio National Guard The Ohio National Guard comprises the Ohio Army National Guard and the Ohio Air National Guard. The commander-in-chief of the Ohio Army National Guard is the governor of the U.S. state of Ohio. If the Ohio Army National Guard is called to fede ...

. He performed

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

duty in

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from May 4, 1864 until August 23, 1864. He apprenticed as a carpenter and was a contractor and builder for about twenty years. Around 1882, he became a resident of Dayton, and in 1890 decided to devote his time wholly to architectural work and is "now ranked among the most successful draftsmen in the city." He built the Centre City Building, schools, and churches in the Dayton area. Herby had his office in the Beckel building.

Centre City Building

The 14-floor southern section of the building is framed in steel, and when it was completed in 1904 it was the United Brethren Building.Centre City Building
Emporis Liberty Tower (then known as the Mutual Home Savings Association Building) was the first area building to surpass it in height. The 21-story tower portion was completed in 1927, one of the tallest reinforced concrete buildings in the world at that time. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

Personal life

He married Sarah C. Cunningham, a native of Montgomery County, in 1871. Her parents were Joseph and Emily Cunningham, the former of whom was a prominent farmer. They had ten children, five that died in infancy. The five survivors included: Daisy, Walter E., Roy, James Garfield, and Wilbur. Herby was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and had close ties to the Raper Methodist Episcopal Church, where he was a class leader and assistant superintendent of the

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

Death

Herby died suddenly on August 16, 1914. He was buried at

Woodland Cemetery Woodland Cemetery may refer to: * Woodland cemetery, a type of cemetery or it may refer to specific places: in Sweden * Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery) in Stockholm, Sweden in the United States (by state) * Woodland Cemetery (Quincy, I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herby, Charles 1846 births 1914 deaths Architects from Ohio Architects from Northamptonshire Burials at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum