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Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...
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 Dayton was estimated to be at 814,049 residents. The Combined Statistical Area (CSA) was 1,086,512. This makes Dayton the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Ohio and 73rd in the United States. Dayton is within Ohio's Miami Valley region, north of the
Greater Cincinnati The Cincinnati metropolitan area and also known as the Cincinnati Tri-State area, or Greater Cincinnati) is a metropolitan area centered on Cincinnati and including surrounding counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The are ...
area. Ohio's borders are within of roughly 60 percent of the country's population and manufacturing infrastructure, making the Dayton area a logistical
centroid In mathematics and physics, the centroid, also known as geometric center or center of figure, of a plane figure or solid figure is the arithmetic mean position of all the points in the surface of the figure. The same definition extends to any o ...
for manufacturers, suppliers, and shippers. Dayton also hosts significant research and development in fields like industrial,
aeronautical Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...
, and astronautical engineering that have led to many technological innovations. Much of this innovation is due in part to
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
and its place in the community. With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Dayton's businesses have diversified into a service economy that includes insurance and legal sectors as well as healthcare and government sectors. Along with
defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...
and
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
,
healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health prof ...
accounts for much of the Dayton area's economy. Hospitals in the Greater Dayton area have an estimated combined employment of nearly 32,000 and a yearly economic impact of $6.8 billion. It is estimated that
Premier Health Partners Premier Health is a medical network of three hospitals and two major health centers in the Dayton region. Premier Health, which employs 14,000 workers, is the second-largest employer in the Dayton region and ninth-largest employer in Ohio. They ...
, a hospital network, contributes more than $2 billion a year to the region through operating, employment, and capital expenditures. In 2011, Dayton was rated the #3 city in the nation by HealthGrades for excellence in healthcare. Dayton is also noted for its association with aviation; the city is the birthplace of Orville Wright. Other well-known individuals born in the city include poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American ...
and entrepreneur John H. Patterson. Dayton is also known for its many patents,
invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
s, and
inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
s, most notably the Wright brothers' invention of powered flight. In 2007 Dayton was a part of the top 100 cities in America. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, ''Site Selection'' magazine ranked Dayton the #1 mid-sized metropolitan area in the nation for economic development. Also in 2010, Dayton was named one of the best places in the United States for college graduates to find a job.


History

Dayton was founded on April 1, 1796, by 12 settlers known as the Thompson Party. They traveled in March from Cincinnati up the
Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...
by
pirogue A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description The term 'pirogue' does n ...
and landed at what is now St. Clair Street, where they found two small camps of Native Americans. Among the Thompson Party was Benjamin Van Cleve, whose memoirs provide insights into the Ohio Valley's history. Two other groups traveling overland arrived several days later. The oldest surviving building is
Newcom Tavern Newcom Tavern, also known as the "Old Cabin", is an historic structure in Dayton, Ohio and is the city's oldest existing building. It was built in 1796 for Colonel George Newcom and his wife Mary, who ran it as a tavern and hostel. The building p ...
, which was used for various purposes, including housing Dayton's first church, which is still in existence. In 1797, Daniel C. Cooper laid out
Mad River Road {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Mad River Road was the first overland route between Dayton, Ohio and Cincinnati, Ohio. It was cut by Daniel C. Cooper in 1795 to provide access to the new town of Dayton and the "Mad River Country" northeast a ...
, the first overland connection between Cincinnati and Dayton, opening the "Mad River Country" to settlement. Ohio was admitted into the
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''U ...
in 1803, and the village of Dayton was incorporated in 1805 and chartered as a city in 1841. The city was named after Jonathan Dayton, a captain in the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
who signed the
U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nationa ...
and owned a significant amount of land in the area. In 1827, construction on the Dayton–Cincinnati canal began, which would provide a better way to transport goods from Dayton to Cincinnati and contribute significantly to Dayton's economic growth during the 1800s.


Innovation

Innovation led to business growth in the region. In 1884, John Henry Patterson acquired James Ritty's National Manufacturing Company along with his
cash register A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a drawer for storing cash and other v ...
patents and formed the National Cash Register Company (NCR). The company manufactured the first mechanical cash registers and played a crucial role in the shaping of Dayton's reputation as an epicenter for manufacturing in the early 1900s. In 1906, Charles F. Kettering, a leading engineer at the company, helped develop the first electric cash register, which propelled NCR into the national spotlight. NCR also helped develop the US Navy Bombe, a code-breaking machine that helped crack the Enigma machine cipher during World War II. Dayton has been the home for many patents and inventions since the 1870s. According to the National Park Service, citing information from the
U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
, Dayton had granted more patents per capita than any other U.S. city in 1890 and ranked fifth in the nation as early as 1870. The Wright brothers, inventors of the airplane, and
Charles F. Kettering Charles Franklin Kettering (August 29, 1876 – November 25, 1958) sometimes known as Charles Fredrick Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. For the list of patents issued to Kettering, see, Le ...
, world-renowned for his numerous inventions, hailed from Dayton. The city was also home to James Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier, the first mechanical cash register, and Arthur E. Morgan's hydraulic jump, a flood prevention mechanism that helped pioneer
hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the mov ...
.
Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American ...
, an African-American poet and novelist, penned his most famous works in the late 19th century and became an integral part of the city's history.


Birthplace of Aviation

Powered aviation began in Dayton. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to construct and demonstrate powered flight. Although the first flight was in
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of what is known as North Carolina's Outer Banks. The population was 3,708 at the 2020 Census. It was established in the early 18th century as Chickahawk. History ...
, their Wright Flyer was built in and returned to Dayton for improvements and further flights at Huffman Field, a cow pasture eight miles (13 km) northeast of Dayton, near the current Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. When the government tried to move development to Langley field in southern Virginia, six Dayton businessmen including Edward A. Deeds, formed the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company in Moraine and established a flying field. Deeds also opened a field to the north in the flood plain of the Great Miami River between the confluences of that river, the Stillwater River, and the Mad River, near downtown Dayton. Later named McCook Field for Alexander McDowell McCook, an American Civil War general, this became the Army Signal Corps' primary aviation research and training location. Wilbur Wright also purchased land near Huffman prairie to continue their research. During World War I, the Army purchased 40 acres adjacent to Huffman Prairie for the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. As airplanes developed more capability, they needed more runway space than McCook could offer, and a new location was sought. The Patterson family formed the Dayton Air Service Committee, Inc which held a campaign that raised $425,000 in two days and purchased 4,520.47 acres (18.2937 km2) northeast of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field. Wright Field was "formally dedicated" on 12 October 1927. After World War II, Wright Field and the adjacent Patterson Field, Dayton Army Air Field, and Clinton Army Air Field were merged as the Headquarters, Air Force Technical Base. On 13 January 1948, the facility was renamed
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
.


The Dayton Flood

A catastrophic flood in March 1913, known as the Great Dayton Flood, led to the creation of the Miami Conservancy District, a series of dams as well as hydraulic pumps installed around Dayton, in 1914.


The war effort

Like other cities across the country, Dayton was heavily involved in the war effort during World War II. Several locations around the city hosted the
Dayton Project The Dayton Project was a research and development project to produce polonium during World War II, as part of the larger Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. Work took place at several sites in and around Dayton, Ohio. Those worki ...
, a branch of the larger Manhattan Project, to develop
polonium Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
triggers used in early atomic bombs. The war efforts led to a manufacturing boom throughout the city, including high demand for housing and other services. At one point, emergency housing was put into place due to a housing shortage in the region, much of which is still in use today.
Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He visited the National Cash Register (NCR) company in Dayton in December 1942. He was able to show that it was not necessary to build 336 Bombes, so the initial order was scaled down to 96 machines to decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II.


Post-War Dayton

Between the 1940s and the 1970s, the city saw significant growth in suburban areas from population migration. Veterans were returning from military service in large numbers seeking industrial and manufacturing jobs, a part of the local industry that was expanding rapidly. Advancements in architecture also contributed to the suburban boom. New, modernized shopping centers and the Interstate Highway System allowed workers to commute greater distances and families to live further from the downtown area. More than 127,000 homes were built in Montgomery County during the 1950s. During this time, the city was the site of several race riots, including one in 1955 following the murder of
Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African Americans, African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and Lynching in the United States, lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a whi ...
, the
1966 Dayton race riot The 1966 Dayton race riot (also known as the Dayton uprising) was a period of civil unrest in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The riot occurred on September 1 and lasted about 24 hours, ending after the Ohio National Guard had been mobilized. ...
, two in 1967 (following a speech by civil rights activist
H. Rap Brown Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (born Hubert Gerold Brown; October 4, 1943), formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is a civil rights activist, black separatist, and convicted murderer who was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ...
and another following the
police killing Following are lists of killings by law enforcement officers. * List of killings by law enforcement officers by country ** List of killings by law enforcement officers in Canada ** List of killings by law enforcement officers in China ** List of ...
of an African American man), and one in 1968 as part of the nationwide King assassination riots. Since the 1980s, however, Dayton's population has declined, mainly due to the loss of manufacturing jobs and decentralization of metropolitan areas, as well as the national housing crisis that began in 2008. While much of the state has suffered for similar reasons, the impact on Dayton has been greater than most. Dayton had the third-greatest percentage loss of population in the state since the 1980s, behind Cleveland and Youngstown. Despite this, Dayton has begun diversifying its workforce from manufacturing into other growing sectors such as healthcare and education.


Peace accords

In 1995, the Dayton Agreement, a peace accord between the parties to the hostilities of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the former Yugoslavia, was negotiated at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
, near Fairborn, Ohio, from November 1 to 21.
Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...
wrote about these events in his memoirs:
There was also a real Dayton out there, a charming Ohio city, famous as the birthplace of the Wright brothers. Its citizens energized us from the outset. Unlike the population of, say, New York City, Geneva or
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, which would scarcely notice another conference, Daytonians were proud to be part of history. Large signs at the commercial airport hailed Dayton as the "temporary center of international peace." The local newspapers and television stations covered the story from every angle, drawing the people deeper into the proceedings. When we ventured into a restaurant or a shopping center downtown, people crowded around, saying that they were praying for us. Warren Christopher was given at least one standing ovation in a restaurant. Families on the airbase placed "candles of peace" in their front windows, and people gathered in peace vigils outside the base. One day they formed a "peace chain," although it was not large enough to surround the sprawling eight-thousand-acre base. Ohio's famous ethnic diversity was on display.


2000s initiatives

Downtown expansion that began in the 2000s has helped revitalize the city and encourage growth.
Day Air Ballpark Day Air Ballpark, formerly known as Fifth Third Field, is a minor league baseball stadium in Dayton, Ohio, which is the home of the Dayton Dragons, the Midwest League affiliate of the nearby Cincinnati Reds. In 2011, the Dragons broke the all-ti ...
, home of the
Dayton Dragons The Dayton Dragons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Dayton, Ohio, and play their home games at Day Air Ballpark, formerly known as Fifth Third Field. I ...
, was built in 2000. The highly successful minor league baseball team has been an integral part of Dayton's culture. In 2001, the city's public park system, Five Rivers MetroParks, built RiverScape MetroPark, an outdoor entertainment venue that attracts more than 400,000 visitors each year. A new performance arts theater, the
Schuster Center The Schuster Performing Arts Center is located in Dayton, Ohio and was built in 2003 to serve as Dayton's principal center of the lively arts. It is owned and operated by the Victoria Theatre Association and occupies the former site of Rike's ...
, opened in 2003. A large health network in the region,
Premier Health Partners Premier Health is a medical network of three hospitals and two major health centers in the Dayton region. Premier Health, which employs 14,000 workers, is the second-largest employer in the Dayton region and ninth-largest employer in Ohio. They ...
, expanded its
Miami Valley Hospital Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) is a large urban hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has two additional locations; Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio, and Miami Valley Hospita ...
with a 12-story tower addition. In 2010, the Downtown Dayton Partnership, in cooperation with the City of Dayton and community leaders, introduced the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan. It focuses on job creation and retention, infrastructure improvements, housing, recreation, and collaboration. The plan is to be implemented through the year 2020.


Nickname

Dayton is known as the "Gem City". The nickname's origin is uncertain, but several theories exist. In the early 19th century, a well-known racehorse named Gem hailed from Dayton. In 1845, an article published in the ''Cincinnati Daily Chronicle'' by an author known as T stated: In the late 1840s, Major William D. Bickham of the ''Dayton Journal'' began a campaign to nickname Dayton the "Gem City." The name was adopted by the city's Board of Trade several years later.
Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American ...
referred to the nickname in his poem, "Toast to Dayton", as noted in the following excerpt:
She shall ever claim our duty, For she shines—the brightest gem That has ever decked with beauty Dear Ohio's diadem.
Dayton also plays a role in a nickname given to the state of Ohio, "Birthplace of Aviation." Dayton is the hometown of the Wright brothers, aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing and building the first practical airplane in history. After their first manned flights in
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of what is known as North Carolina's Outer Banks. The population was 3,708 at the 2020 Census. It was established in the early 18th century as Chickahawk. History ...
, which they had chosen due to its ideal weather and climate conditions, the Wrights returned to Dayton and continued testing at nearby
Huffman Prairie Huffman Prairie, also known as Huffman Prairie Flying Field or Huffman Field is part of Ohio's Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The 84-acre (34-hectare) patch of rough pasture, near Fairborn, northeast of Dayton, is the place ...
. Additionally, Dayton is colloquially referred to as "Little Detroit". This nickname comes from Dayton's prominence as a Midwestern manufacturing center.


Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Climate

Dayton's climate features warm, muggy summers and cold, dry winters, and is classified as a humid continental climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfa''). Unless otherwise noted, all normal figures quoted within the text below are from the official climatology station, Dayton International Airport, at an elevation of about to the north of downtown Dayton, which lies within the valley of the Miami River; thus temperatures there are typically cooler than in downtown. At the airport, monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July. The highest temperature ever recorded in Dayton was on July 22, 1901, and the coldest was on February 13 during the
Great Blizzard of 1899 The Great Blizzard of 1899, also known as the Great Arctic Outbreak of 1899 and the St. Valentine's Day Blizzard, was an exceptionally severe winter weather event that affected most of the United States, particularly east of the Rocky Mountains ...
. On average, there are 14 days of + highs and 4.5 nights of sub- lows annually. Snow is moderate, with a normal seasonal accumulation of , usually occurring from November to March, occasionally April, and rarely October. Precipitation averages annually, with total rainfall peaking in May. Dayton is subject to severe weather typical of the Midwestern United States. Tornadoes are possible from the spring to the fall. Floods, blizzards, and severe thunderstorms can also occur. On Memorial Day of 2019, Dayton suffered extensive property damage and one death during a
tornado outbreak __NOTOC__ A tornado outbreak is the occurrence of multiple tornadoes spawned by the same synoptic scale weather system. The number of tornadoes required to qualify as an outbreak typically are at least six to ten, with at least two rotational ...
, in which a total of 15 tornadoes touched down in the Dayton area. Although some of the tornadoes were only
EF0 The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated as EF-Scale) rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage they cause. It is used in some countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Mongolia. The Enhanced Fujita scale repla ...
and remained on the ground for less than a mile, one was an EF4 measuring a half-mile-wide (805 meters), which tore through the communities of Brookville, Trotwood, Dayton, and Riverside. Several streets were closed, including portions of I-75 and North Dixie Street. 64,000 residents lost power and much of the region's water supply was cut off.


Ecology

The Dayton Audubon Society is the National Audubon Society's local chapter. The Dayton chapter manages local activities contributing to the annual, hemisphere-wide
Christmas Bird Count The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. The purpose is to provide popu ...
. The Chapter began participation in the National Count in 1924. The local Count was initially coordinated by Ben Blincoe, who was succeeded by Jim Hill in 1970. In the mid-1960s, the freezing of Lake Erie and associated marshlands led species of waterfowl to appear in the Dayton-area, where surface waters remained unfrozen. Nine varieties of birds have been observed every year in the Dayton area:
downy woodpecker The downy woodpecker (''Dryobates pubescens'') is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America. Length ranges from . Downy woodpeckers primarily live in forested areas throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of deser ...
,
Carolina chickadee The Carolina chickadee (''Poecile carolinensis'') is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. Taxonomy The Carolina chickadee is often placed in the genus ''Parus'' with most other tits, but mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' sequence data an ...
,
tufted titmouse The tufted titmouse (''Baeolophus bicolor'') is a small songbird from North America, a species in the tit and chickadee family (Paridae). The black-crested titmouse, found from central and southern Texas southward, was included as a subspecies, ...
,
brown creeper The brown creeper (''Certhia americana''), also known as the American treecreeper, is a small songbird, the only North American member of the treecreeper family Certhiidae. Description Adults are brown on the upper parts with light spotting, re ...
,
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
,
junco A junco , genus ''Junco'', is a small North American bird in the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. Junco systematics are still confusing after decades of research, with various authors accepting between three and twelve species. Despit ...
, tree sparrow,
song sparrow The song sparrow (''Melospiza melodia'') is a medium-sized New World sparrow. Among the native sparrows in North America, it is easily one of the most abundant, variable and adaptable species. Description Adult song sparrows have brown upperp ...
and
crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientific ...
.


Demographics

:''Note: the following demographic information applies only to the city of Dayton proper. For other Dayton-area communities, see their respective articles.'' Dayton's population declined significantly from a peak of 262,332 residents in 1960 to only 141,759 in 2010. This was in part due to the slowdown of the region's manufacturing and the growth of Dayton's affluent suburbs including Oakwood, Englewood, Beavercreek, Springboro,
Miamisburg Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...
,
Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...
, and Centerville. The city's most populous ethnic group, white, declined from 78.1% in 1960 to 51.7% by 2010. Recent census estimates show a population decline since 2010. As of the 2000 census, the median income for a household in the city was $27,523, and the median income for a family was $34,978. Males had a median income of $30,816 versus $24,937 for females. The per capita income for the city was $34,724. About 18.2% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.0% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those age 65 or over.


2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 141,759 people, 58,404 households, and 31,064 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 74,065 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 51.7% White, 42.9%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
, 0.3% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 1.3% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.0% of the population. There were 58,404 households, of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.9% were married couples living together, 21.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 46.8% were non-families. 38.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26, and the average family size was 3.03. The median age in the city was 34.4 years. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 14.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64, and 11.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.


2013 census population estimates

The 2013 census population estimate showed a slight Dayton population increase for the first time in five decades. However, the 2014 population estimate indicated a decrease of individuals from 2013's estimate.


Economy

Dayton's economy is relatively diversified and vital to the overall economy of the state of Ohio. In 2008 and 2009, ''
Site Selection The award-winning ''Site Selection'' magazine, published by Conway Data, Inc., is the official publication of thIndustrial Asset Management Council(IAMC). The magazine delivers expansion planning information to over 44,000 readers including corpora ...
'' magazine ranked Dayton the #1 medium-sized metropolitan area in the U.S. for economic development. Dayton is also among the top 100 metropolitan areas in both exports and export-related jobs, ranked 16 and 14 respectively by the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ...
. The 2010 report placed the value of exports at $4.7 billion and the number of export-related jobs at 44,133. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area ranks 4th in Ohio's Gross Domestic Product with a 2008 industry total of $33.78 billion. Additionally, Dayton ranks third among 11 major metropolitan areas in Ohio for exports to foreign countries. The Dayton Development Coalition is attempting to leverage the region's large water capacity, estimated to be 1.5 trillion gallons of renewable water aquifers, to attract new businesses. Moody's Investment Services revised Dayton's bond rating from A1 to the stronger rating of Aa2 as part of its global recalibration process.
Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is cons ...
upgraded Dayton's rating from A+ to AA- in the summer of 2009. ''
Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' ranked Dayton in 2010 as one of the best places in the U.S. for college graduates looking for a job. Companies such as Reynolds and Reynolds, CareSource, DP&L (soon AES inc),
LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer informa ...
,
Kettering Health Network Kettering Health, formerly known as Kettering Health Network and Kettering Medical Center Network, is a nonprofit network of fourteen Dayton and Cincinnati area medical centers, Kettering College, and 120 outpatient facilities. The system is bas ...
,
Premier Health Partners Premier Health is a medical network of three hospitals and two major health centers in the Dayton region. Premier Health, which employs 14,000 workers, is the second-largest employer in the Dayton region and ninth-largest employer in Ohio. They ...
, and
Standard Register Taylor Corporation is a privately owned printing company based in North Mankato, Minnesota. Established in 1975 by Glen Taylor. The company comprises more than 80 subsidiaries and employs more than 10,000 workers across the United Kingdom, Phi ...
have their headquarters in Dayton. It is also the former home of the Speedwell Motor Car Company,
MeadWestvaco MeadWestvaco Corporation was an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It had approximately 23,000 employees. In February 2006, it moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond. In March 2008, the company announced a change to st ...
(formerly known as the Mead Paper Company), and NCR. NCR was headquartered in Dayton for over 125 years and was a major innovator in computer technology.


Research, development, aerospace and aviation

The Dayton region gave birth to aviation and is known for its high concentration of
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
and aviation technology. In 2009, Governor
Ted Strickland Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the 68th governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ...
designated Dayton as Ohio's aerospace innovation hub, the state's first such technology hub. Two major United States research and development organizations have leveraged Dayton's historical leadership in aviation and maintain their headquarters in the area: The
National Air and Space Intelligence Center The National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is the United States Air Force unit for analyzing military intelligence on foreign air and space forces, weapons, and systems. NASIC assessments of aerospace performance characteristics, ca ...
(NASIC) and the
Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...
(AFRL). Both have their headquarters at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
. Several research organizations support NASIC, AFRL, and the Dayton community. The
Advanced Technical Intelligence Center The Advanced Technical Intelligence Center for Human Capital Development (ATIC) is a university and industry-focused research, education, and training nonprofit corporation within the Dayton Region.It consolidates technical intelligence educat ...
is a confederation of government, academic, and industry partners. The
University of Dayton Research Institute The University of Dayton Research Institute is the professional research arm of the University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is on ...
(UDRI) is led by the University of Dayton. The Cognitive Technologies Division (CTD) of Applied Research Associates, Inc., which carries out human-centered research and design, is headquartered in the Dayton suburb of Fairborn. The city of Dayton has started Tech Town, a development project to attract technology-based firms and revitalize the downtown area. Tech Town is home to the world's first RFID
business incubator Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture c ...
. The University of Dayton–led Institute for Development & Commercialization of Sensor Technologies (IDCAST) at TechTown is a center for remote sensing and sensing technology. It is one of Dayton's technology business incubators housed in The Entrepreneurs Center building.


Healthcare

The
Kettering Health Network Kettering Health, formerly known as Kettering Health Network and Kettering Medical Center Network, is a nonprofit network of fourteen Dayton and Cincinnati area medical centers, Kettering College, and 120 outpatient facilities. The system is bas ...
and
Premier Health Partners Premier Health is a medical network of three hospitals and two major health centers in the Dayton region. Premier Health, which employs 14,000 workers, is the second-largest employer in the Dayton region and ninth-largest employer in Ohio. They ...
have a major role on the Dayton area's economy. Hospitals in the Greater Dayton area have an estimated combined employment of nearly 32,000 and a yearly economic impact of $6.8 billion. In addition, several Dayton area hospitals consistently earn top national ranking and recognition including the '' U.S. News & World Report''s list of "America's Best Hospitals" as well as many of HealthGrades top ratings. The most notable hospitals are
Miami Valley Hospital Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) is a large urban hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has two additional locations; Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio, and Miami Valley Hospita ...
and
Kettering Medical Center Kettering Health Main Campus, formerly known as Kettering Medical Center (KMC), is a faith-based, nonprofit hospital located in Kettering, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1964, it is the flagship hospital of the Kettering Health, and is directly ...
. The Dayton region has several key institutes and centers for health care. The Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton focuses on the science and development of human tissue regeneration. The National Center for Medical Readiness (NCMR) is also in the Dayton area. The center includes Calamityville, which is a disaster training facility. Over five years, Calamityville is estimated to have a regional economic impact of $374 million. Also, the Neurological Institute at Miami Valley Hospital is an institute focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and research of neurological disorders.


Top employers

According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the
city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as "the sin ...
are:


Government

The Dayton City Commission is composed of the mayor and four city commissioners. Each city commission member is elected at-large on a non-partisan basis for four-year, overlapping terms. All policy items are decided by the city commission, which is empowered by the City Charter to pass ordinances and resolutions, adopt regulations, and appoint the city manager. The city manager is responsible for budgeting and implementing policies and initiatives. Dayton was the first large American city to adopt the city manager form of municipal government, in 1913.


Cityscape


Architecture

Unlike many Midwestern cities its age, Dayton has very broad and straight downtown streets (generally two or three full lanes in each direction) that improved access to the downtown even after the automobile became popular. The main reason for the broad streets was that Dayton was a marketing and shipping center from its beginning; streets were broad to enable wagons drawn by teams of three to four pairs of oxen to turn around. Also, some of today's streets were once barge canals flanked by draw-paths. A courthouse building was built in downtown Dayton in 1888 to supplement Dayton's original Neoclassical courthouse, which still stands. This second, "new" courthouse has since been replaced with new facilities as well as a park. The Old Court House has been a favored political campaign stop. On September 17, 1859,
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
delivered an address on its steps. Eight other presidents have visited the courthouse, either as presidents or during presidential campaigns:
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
, James Garfield,
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
,
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. The
Dayton Arcade The Dayton Arcade is a collection of nine buildings in Dayton, Ohio. The Arcade is a historic, architecturally elegant complex in the heart of Dayton's central business district. Built between 1902 and 1904, it was conceived by Eugene J. Barney o ...
, which opened on March 3, 1904, was built in the hopes of replacing open-air markets throughout the city. Throughout the decades, the Arcade has gone through many transformations but has retained its charm. Some of its main features include a Flemish facade at the Third Street entrance, a glass dome above the Arcade rotunda, and a chateau roof line above the Third Street facade. The Dayton Arcade is currently under renovations with no official completion date set. In 2009, the CareSource Management Group finished construction of a $55 million corporate headquarters in downtown Dayton. The , 10-story building was downtown's first new office tower in more than a decade. Dayton's two tallest buildings are the Kettering Tower at and the KeyBank Tower at . Kettering Tower was originally Winters Tower, the headquarters of Winters Bank. The building was renamed after Virginia Kettering when Winters was merged into
Bank One Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2 ...
. KeyBank Tower was known as the
MeadWestvaco MeadWestvaco Corporation was an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It had approximately 23,000 employees. In February 2006, it moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond. In March 2008, the company announced a change to st ...
Tower before
KeyBank KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small ...
gained naming rights to the building in 2008. Ted Rall said in 2015 that over the last five decades Dayton has been demolishing some of its architecturally significant buildings to reduce the city's
rental vacancy rate The rental vacancy rate is an economic indicator which measures the percentage of rental homes that are vacant. Residential vacancies In the United States the Census Bureau keeps track of vacancy rates. In Canada Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp ...
and thus increase the occupancy rate.


Neighborhoods

Dayton's ten historic neighborhoods—
Oregon District The Oregon Historic District is a neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio. The Oregon District includes one of the earliest surviving combinations of commercial and residential architecture in Dayton. Examples of Dayton's architectural history from 1820 ...
, Wright Dunbar, Dayton View,
Grafton Hill Union Hill, also referred to as Grafton Hill and originally known as Sagatabscot Hill is a neighborhood in Worcester, Massachusetts (the second-largest city in New England). Located in the southeastern part of the city and anchored by Grafton Street ...
, McPherson Town, Webster Station, Huffman, Kenilworth, St. Anne's Hill, and
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand their ...
—feature mostly single-family houses and mansions in the Neoclassical,
Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
,
Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
,
English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...
, Chateauesque, Craftsman, Queen Anne,
Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...
,
Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...
, Renaissance Revival Architecture, Shingle Style Architecture,
Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
,
Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...
, Eastlake/Italianate,
American Foursquare The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last ...
, and Federal styles.
Downtown Dayton Downtown Dayton is the central business district of Dayton, Ohio. Major reinvestment in the downtown area began heavily in the mid-1990s, and continues today with $2 billion in residential, commercial, health, and transportation developments that ...
is also a large area that encompasses several neighborhoods itself and has seen a recent uplift and revival.


Suburbs

Dayton's suburbs with a population of 10,000 or more include Beavercreek, Centerville, Clayton, Englewood,
Fairborn Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. Fairborn is a suburb of Dayton, and part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the only city in the world named Fairborn, a port ...
, Harrison Township,
Huber Heights Huber Heights is a suburb of Dayton in Montgomery and Miami counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. Its origins trace back to the now- defunct Wayne Township, which was settled in the early-mid 1800s. Wayne Township was incorporated as the City of H ...
,
Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...
, Miami Township,
Miamisburg Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...
, Oakwood,
Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural ...
, Springboro, Trotwood, Vandalia, Washington Township, West Carrollton, and Xenia. In the federal government's
National Urban Policy and New Community Development Act of 1970 The Urban Growth and New Community Development Act (Renamed National Urban Policy and New Community Development Act of 1970, , title VII, 1970-12-31, , et seq.) is a statute enacted by the United States Congress in 1970. The act championed by Sena ...
, funding was provided for thirteen "new towns" or planned cities throughout the country. One location was set to become a suburb of Dayton and was known variously as Brookwood or Newfields. The goal was to have an entirely new suburb that would eventually house about 35,000 residents. The new town was to be located between Trotwood and Brookville, and modeled on the ideas of
Ian McHarg Ian L. McHarg (20 November 1920 – 5 March 2001) was a Scottish landscape architect and writer on regional planning using natural systems. McHarg was one of the most influential persons in the environmental movement who brought environmental con ...
. The project was abandoned in 1978 and most of the land became Sycamore State Park.


Recreation

Dayton was named National Geographic's outdoor adventure capital of the Midwest in 2019 due in large part to the metropolitan area's revitalized Five Rivers MetroPark, extensive bicycle and jogging trail system, urban green spaces, lakes and camping areas.


Bicycling

In cooperation with the Miami Conservancy District, Five Rivers MetroParks hosts 340 miles of paved trails, the largest network of paved off-street trails in the United States. The regional trail system represents over 35% of the 900 miles in Ohio's off-street trail network. In 2010, the city of Troy was named " bike friendly" by the
League of American Bicyclists The League of American Bicyclists (LAB), officially the League of American Wheelmen, is a membership organization that promotes cycling for fun, fitness and transportation through advocacy and education. A Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizatio ...
, which gave the city the organization's bronze designation. The honorable mention made Dayton one of two cities in Ohio to receive the award, the other being Columbus, and one of 15 cities nationwide.


Culture


Fine arts

The Dayton Region ranked within the top 10% in the nation in
arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
and culture. In a 2012 readers' poll by ''American Style'' magazine, Dayton ranked #2 in the country among mid-size cities as an arts destination, ranking higher than larger cities such as Atlanta, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Dayton is the home of the
Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art mus ...
. The
Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center The Schuster Performing Arts Center is located in Dayton, Ohio and was built in 2003 to serve as Dayton's principal center of the lively arts. It is owned and operated by the Victoria Theatre Association and occupies the former site of Rike's ...
in downtown Dayton is a world-class performing arts center and the home venue of the
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) is a fully professional musical group in Dayton, Ohio, formed in 1933. It is a member of the League of American Orchestras (LAO) and the Regional Orchestra Players' Association (ROPA), and presents programs m ...
,
Dayton Opera Dayton Opera is an American opera company based in Dayton, Ohio. The company makes its home at the Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton where it annually produces three operas and an operatic concert and has an annual budget of appr ...
, and the
Dayton Ballet The Dayton Ballet is a ballet company based in Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Ballet was founded in 1937, making it the second oldest regional ballet company in the United States. Dayton Ballet seasons typically comprise four works—familiar traditio ...
. In addition to
philharmonic An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, cel ...
and opera performances, the Schuster Center hosts concerts, lectures, and traveling Broadway shows, and is a popular spot for weddings and other events. The historic Victoria Theatre in downtown Dayton hosts
concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety ...
s, traveling Broadway shows, ballet, a summertime classic film series, and more. The
Loft Theatre The Loft Theatre is a legitimate theater in downtown Dayton, Ohio.Loft Theatre Series
It ho ...
, also downtown, is the home of the
Human Race Theatre Company The Human Race Theatre Company is the professional producing theatre company of Dayton Ohio, dedicated to producing works on universal themes that explore the human condition and startle us all into a renewed awareness of ourselves. The HRTC is ...
. The Dayton Playhouse, in West Dayton, is the site of numerous plays and theatrical productions. Between 1957 and 1995, the
Kenley Players The Kenley Players was an Equity summer stock theatre company which presented hundreds of productions featuring Broadway, film, and television stars in Midwestern cities between 1940 and 1996. ''Variety'' called it the "largest network of theater ...
presented live theater productions in Dayton. In 2013, John Kenley was inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame. Dayton is the home to several ballet companies including: * The
Dayton Ballet The Dayton Ballet is a ballet company based in Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Ballet was founded in 1937, making it the second oldest regional ballet company in the United States. Dayton Ballet seasons typically comprise four works—familiar traditio ...
, one of the oldest professional dance companies in the United States. The Dayton Ballet runs the Dayton Ballet School, the oldest
dance school A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose. Overview A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used fo ...
in Dayton and one of the oldest in the country. It is the only ballet school in the Miami Valley associated with a professional
dance company A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different styles of dan ...
. * The
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, which was founded in 1968 by Dayton, Ohio native, Jeraldyne Blunden, is the oldest modern dance company in Ohio, and one of the largest companies of its kind between Chicago and New York City. History The Da ...
(established in 1968), which hosts the largest repertory of African-American-based contemporary dance in the world. The company travels nationally and internationally and has been recognized by critics worldwide. Front Street, the largest artists' collective in Dayton, is housed in three industrial buildings on East Second Street.


Food

The city's fine dining restaurants include The Pine Club, a nationally known steakhouse. Dayton is home to a variety of
pizza chains Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onion ...
that have become woven into local culture, the most notable of which are
Cassano's Cassano's Pizza King, currently operating under the brand Cassano's, is a pizzeria chain based in Dayton, Ohio. Established on June 4, 1953, by the grocer Victor "Vic" J. Cassano, Sr. (June 4, 1922 – January 1, 2002) and his mother-in-law C ...
and
Marion's Piazza Marion's Piazza is a pizzeria chain based in Dayton, Ohio. Established in 1965 by Marion Glass, the company operates nine restaurants throughout the greater Dayton area. Marion's son, Roger Glass, took over as CEO after Marion's death in 2006 an ...
. Notable Dayton-based restaurant chains include Hot Head Burritos. In addition to restaurants, the city is also home to Esther Price Candies, a candy and chocolate company, and Mike-sells, the oldest potato chip company in the United States. The city began developing a reputation for its number of
breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
and
craft beer Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
venues by the late 2010s.


Religion

Many major religions are represented in Dayton. Christianity is represented in Dayton by dozens of denominations and their respective churches. Notable Dayton churches include the First Lutheran Church, Sacred Heart Church, and Ginghamsburg Church. Dayton's Muslim community is largely represented by the
Islamic Society of Greater Dayton The Islamic Society of Greater Dayton (ISGD) is a Sunni Muslim community organization based in Dayton, Ohio. The organization includes a mosque on Josie Street. Regular activities at the mosque include worship services, outreach, language classe ...
(ISGD), a Muslim community that includes a mosque on Josie Street. Dayton is also home to the
United Theological Seminary United Theological Seminary is a United Methodist seminary in Trotwood, Ohio. Founded in 1871 by Milton Wright (father of the Wright brothers), it was originally sponsored by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1946, members ...
, one of 13 seminaries affiliated with the
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
. Judaism is represented by Temple Israel. Hinduism is represented by the Hindu Temple of Dayton. Old North Dayton also has a number of Catholic churches built by immigrants from Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, and Germany.


Tourism

Tourism also accounts for one out of every 14 private sector jobs in the county. Tourism in the Dayton region is led by the National Museum of the United States Air Force at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
, the largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world. The museum draws over 1.3 million visitors per year and is one of the most-visited tourist attractions in Ohio. The museum houses the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Other museums also play significant roles in the tourism and economy of the Dayton area. The
Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art mus ...
, a museum of fine arts, owns collections containing more than 20,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of art and archaeological history. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a children's museum, science and technology center and zoo in Dayton, Ohio, United States that focuses on science and natural history. Exhibits include an extensive natural history collection as well as maint ...
is a
children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feat ...
of science with numerous exhibits, one of which includes an indoor zoo with nearly 100 different animals. There are also some notable historical museums in the region. The
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio that commemorates three important historical figures— Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar—and th ...
, operated by the National Park Service, commemorates the lives and achievements of Dayton natives Orville and Wilbur Wright and
Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American ...
. The Wright brothers' famous
Wright Flyer III The Wright Flyer III was the third powered aircraft by the Wright Brothers, built during the winter of 1904–05. Orville Wright made the first flight with it on June 23, 1905. The Flyer III had an airframe of spruce construction with a wing ...
aircraft is housed in a museum at
Carillon Historical Park Carillon Historical Park is a 65-acre (26.3 ha) park and museum in Dayton, Ohio, which contains historic buildings and exhibits concerning the history of technology and the history of Dayton and its residents from 1796 to the present. As a part of ...
. Dayton is also home to
America's Packard Museum America's Packard Museum is an automotive museum located in Dayton, Ohio. History The Citizens Motorcar Company, known as America's Packard Museum, is a restored Packard dealership transformed into a museum that displays twentieth-century classic ...
, which contains many restored historical Packard vehicles. SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park, a partially reconstructed 12th-century prehistoric American Indian village, is on the south end of Dayton; it is organized around a central plaza dominated by wood posts forming an astronomical calendar. The park includes a museum where visitors can learn about the Indian history of the Miami Valley.


Music & Entertainment

The
Vectren Dayton Air Show The CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show is an annual event held at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, eight miles north of Dayton, Ohio. From 2013 to 2019, the show has been held on a weekend in late June. Prior to 2013, and again ...
is an annual
air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...
that takes place at the Dayton International Airport. The Vectren Dayton Airshow is one of the largest air shows in the United States. The Dayton area is served by Five Rivers MetroParks, encompassing over 23 facilities for year-round recreation, education, and conservation. In cooperation with the Miami Conservancy District, the MetroParks maintains over of paved, multi-use scenic trails that connect Montgomery County with Greene, Miami, Warren, and Butler counties. Dayton was home to a thriving
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...
music scene from the 1970s to the early 1980s, that included bands such as Ohio Players,
Roger Troutman Roger Troutman (November 29, 1951 – April 25, 1999), also known as Roger, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and heavily influenc ...
&
Zapp Zapp may refer to: People *Jim Zapp (1924-2016), baseball player *Robert-Richard Zapp, a German U-boat commander during World War II *Walter Zapp, a Baltic German inventor, designer of miniature cameras *Zapp Brannigan, a fictional character from t ...
, Lakeside,
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
,
Dayton 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 Da ...
,
Heatwave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...
, and Slave. From 1996 to 1998, Dayton hosted the National Folk Festival. Since then, the annual Cityfolk Festival has continued to bring folk, ethnic, and world music and arts to Dayton. The Five Rivers MetroParks also owns and operates the PNC Second Street Market near downtown Dayton. The Dayton area hosts several arenas and venues. South of Dayton in
Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...
is the
Fraze Pavilion The Fraze Pavilion is a 4,300-seat outdoor amphitheater in Kettering, Ohio that opened in 1991. The Pavilion is named after Ermal Fraze, late resident of Kettering and inventor of the pop-top beverage can. The theater hosts many popular American ...
, whose notable performances have included the
Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The gr ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, and
Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as ...
. South of downtown, on the banks of the
Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...
, is the
University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...
, home venue for the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams and the location of various other events and
concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety ...
s. It also hosts the
Winter Guard International Winter Guard International (WGI) is an American performing arts association, governing body, and the producer of regional championship events for three activities: color guard (known as winter guard), percussion ensembles, and small marching bands ...
championships, at which hundreds of percussion and color guard ensembles from around the world compete. In addition, the Dayton Amateur Radio Association hosts the annual
Dayton Hamvention The Dayton Hamvention is one of the two largest amateur radio convention (or hamfest) in the world. It is held each May in the Dayton, Ohio area and draws attendees from various parts of the world. Since 2017, it has been held at the Greene Count ...
, North America's largest
hamfest A Hamfest is a convention of amateur radio enthusiasts, often combining a trade show, flea market, and various other activities of interest to amateur radio operators (hams). In the United Kingdom the term rally is more commonly used for amateur r ...
, at the Greene County Fairgrounds in nearby Xenia. The
Nutter Center The Nutter Center is a multi-purpose arena located at Wright State University, in Fairborn, Ohio. It mainly serves as the home court of the Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball teams. It is also regularly used as a music venue for ...
, which is just east of Dayton in the suburb of
Fairborn Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. Fairborn is a suburb of Dayton, and part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the only city in the world named Fairborn, a port ...
, is the home arena for athletics of Wright State University and the former
Dayton Bombers The Dayton Bombers were an ECHL ice hockey team located in Dayton, Ohio. The team most recently was in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. The Bombers originally played at Hara Arena from 1991 to 1996. The team moved to the Er ...
hockey team. This venue is used for many concerts, community events, and various national traveling shows and performances. The
Oregon District The Oregon Historic District is a neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio. The Oregon District includes one of the earliest surviving combinations of commercial and residential architecture in Dayton. Examples of Dayton's architectural history from 1820 ...
is a historic residential and commercial district in southeast downtown Dayton. The district is populated with
art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lo ...
,
specialty shops A specialty store is a shop/store that carries a deep assortment of brands, styles, or models within a relatively narrow category of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Stores such as A ...
,
pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, nightclubs, and
coffee houses A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
. The city of Dayton is also host to yearly
festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...
, such as the Dayton Celtic Festival, the Dayton Blues Festival, Dayton Music Fest, Urban Nights, Women in Jazz, the African American and Cultural Festival, and the Dayton Reggae Fest.


Sports

The Dayton area is home to several minor league and semi pro teams, as well as NCAA Division I sports programs.


Baseball

The
Dayton Dragons The Dayton Dragons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Dayton, Ohio, and play their home games at Day Air Ballpark, formerly known as Fifth Third Field. I ...
professional baseball team is a Class A minor league affiliate for the
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
. The Dayton Dragons are the first (and only) team in minor league baseball history to sell out an entire season before it began and was voted as one of the top 10 hottest tickets to get in all of professional sports by Sports Illustrated. The Dayton Dragons 815 consecutive sellouts surpassed the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers for the longest sellout streak across all professional sports in the U.S.


Collegiate

The University of Dayton and Wright State University both host NCAA basketball. The
University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...
has hosted more games in the
NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
over its history than any other venue. UD Arena is also the site of the First Round games of the NCAA Tournament. In 2012, eight teams competed for the final four spots in the NCAA basketball tournament. Wright State University's NCAA men's basketball is the
Wright State Raiders The Wright State Raiders are the athletics teams of Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. The school currently participates in ten sports at the Division I level of the NCAA and are members of the Horizon League. The school's mascot is a wo ...
and the University of Dayton's NCAA men's basketball team is the Dayton Flyers.


Hockey

The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team in the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, 1979 to 1980, and most recently 2009 to 2012. The
Dayton Bombers The Dayton Bombers were an ECHL ice hockey team located in Dayton, Ohio. The team most recently was in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. The Bombers originally played at Hara Arena from 1991 to 1996. The team moved to the Er ...
were an
ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...
ice hockey team from 1991 to 2009. They most recently played the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. In June 2009, it was announced the Bombers would turn in their membership back to the league. Despite the folding of the Bombers, hockey remained in Dayton as the
Dayton Gems The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, and members of the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, and 1979–1980. In the fall of 1964, the lobby of their new arena, Hara Arena, had a natural gas ...
of the International Hockey League were formed in the fall of 2009 at
Hara Arena Hara Arena was a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Trotwood, Ohio suburb of Dayton. The facility began as a ballroom in 1956, added an arena in 1964 and grew to a six-building complex which closed in August 2016. At various times, it ...
. The Gems folded after the 2011–12 season. Shortly after the Gems folded, it was announced a new team, the
Dayton Demonz The Dayton Demonz were a professional ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, in the Federal Hockey League. After the Dayton Gems of the Central Hockey League ceased operations, the Demonz were created as an expansion team in the FHL. The team pl ...
, would begin play in 2012 in the
Federal Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...
(FHL). The Demonz folded in 2015 and were immediately replaced by the
Dayton Demolition The Dayton Demolition was a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Federal Hockey League based in Dayton, Ohio and played their home games at Hara Arena. The team was known as the Berkshire Battalion in North Adams, Massachusetts bef ...
, also in the FHL. However, the Demolition would cease operations after only one season when
Hara Arena Hara Arena was a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Trotwood, Ohio suburb of Dayton. The facility began as a ballroom in 1956, added an arena in 1964 and grew to a six-building complex which closed in August 2016. At various times, it ...
decided to close due to financial difficulties.


Football

Dayton hosted the first American Professional Football Association game (precursor to the NFL). The game was played at Triangle Park between the Dayton Triangles and the
Columbus Panhandles The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before fold ...
on October 3, 1920, and is considered one of the first professional football games ever played. Football teams in the Dayton area include the Dayton Flyers and the
Dayton Sharks The Dayton Sharks were a professional indoor football team based in Dayton, Ohio. The team was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The franchise started as an expansion team in the CIFL during the 2013 season. The Sharks ...
.


Golf

The Dayton region is also known for the many golf courses and clubs that it hosts. The Miami Valley Golf Club, Moraine Country Club, NCR Country Club, and the
Pipestone Golf Course Pipestone may refer to: Places Canada * Pipestone, Manitoba * Pipestone No. 92, Saskatchewan, Canada, a former name of the Rural Municipality of Walpole No. 92 * Pipestone Creek, in central Alberta, Canada * Pipestone Creek (Saskatchewan), river t ...
are some of the more notable courses. Also, several PGA Championships have been held at area golf courses. The Miami Valley Golf Club hosted the
1957 PGA Championship The 1957 PGA Championship was the 39th PGA Championship, held July 17–21 at Miami Valley Golf Club in Dayton, Ohio. In the last PGA Championship played under the match play format, Lionel Hebert won 2 & 1 over Dow Finsterwald, who won the f ...
, the Moraine Country Club hosted the 1945 PGA Championship, and the NCR Country club hosted the
1969 PGA Championship The 1969 PGA Championship was the 51st PGA Championship, played August 14–17 on the South Course of NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb south of Dayton. Raymond Floyd, age 26, won the first of his four major titles, one stroke ahead ...
. Additionally, NCR CC hosted the 1986 U.S. Women's Open and the 2005 U.S. Senior Open. Other notable courses include the Yankee Trace Golf Club, the Beavercreek Golf Club, Dayton Meadowbrook Country Club, Sycamore Creek Country Club, Heatherwoode Golf Club, Community Golf Course, and Kitty Hawk Golf Course.


Rugby

The city of Dayton is the home to the
Dayton Area Rugby Club Dayton Area Rugby Club is a rugby union football club based in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The club currently fields Men's teams in Midwest Divisions III & IV and a Women's team in the Midwest Division II. They play their home games at Dayton Ru ...
which hosts their home games at th
Dayton Rugby Grounds
As of 2018, the club fields two men's and one women's side for Rugby Union and several Rugby Sevens sides. The club also hosts the annual Gem City 7's tournament.


Media


Newspapers

Dayton is served in print by '' The Dayton Daily News'', the city's sole remaining daily newspaper. The ''Dayton Daily News'' is owned by Cox Enterprises. The Dayton region's main business newspaper is the ''
Dayton Business Journal Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...
''. The ''Dayton City Paper,'' a
community paper Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regul ...
focused on music, art, and independent thought ceased operation in 2018. ''The Dayton Weekly News'' has been published since 1993, providing news and information to Dayton's African-American community.


Magazines

There are numerous magazines produced in and for the Dayton region. ''The Dayton Magazine'' provides insight into arts, food, and events. ''Focus on Business'' is published by the Chamber of Commerce to provide awareness of companies and initiatives affecting the regional economy


Television

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
ranked the 11-county Dayton television market as the No. 62 market in the United States. The market is served by stations affiliated with major American networks including:
WDTN WDTN (channel 2) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Springfield, Ohio–licensed WBDT (channel 26), a ''de facto'' owned-and-op ...
, channel 2 –
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
, operated by Nexstar Media Group;
WHIO-TV WHIO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Cox Media Group since its inception, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Cox (alongside company ...
, channel 7 –
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, operated by Cox Media Group; WPTD, channel 16 –
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...
, operated by ThinkTV, which also operates WPTO, assigned to Oxford;
WKEF WKEF (channel 22) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate WRGT-TV (channel 45) under a local ...
, channel 22 –
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
/ Fox, operated by
Sinclair Broadcasting Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
; WBDT, channel 26 – The CW, operated by Vaughan Media (a shell corporation of Nexstar), assigned to Springfield;
WKOI-TV WKOI-TV (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Richmond, Indiana, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Dayton, Ohio area. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, the station ...
, channel 43 – Ion Television, assigned to
Richmond, Indiana Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situ ...
; and
WRGT-TV WRGT-TV (channel 45) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast G ...
, channel 45 –
My Network TV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
, operated under a local marketing agreement by
Sinclair Broadcasting Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
. The nationally syndicated morning talk show ''
The Daily Buzz ''The Daily Buzz'' (occasionally abbreviated ''"theDBZ"'') is a nationally syndicated news and infotainment program. The show premiered as a 3-hour weekday morning television show on September 16, 2002, initially airing on 10 stations owned and ...
'' originated from WBDT, the former
ACME Communications ACME Communications was a U.S.-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s to the year of 2013. Company profile ACME Communications was co-founded by Chairman and origina ...
property in
Miamisburg Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...
, before moving to its current home in Florida.


Radio

Dayton is also served by 42 AM and FM radio stations directly, and numerous other stations are heard from elsewhere in southwest Ohio, which serve outlying suburbs and adjoining counties.


Transportation


Public transit

The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) operates public bus routes in the Dayton metro area. In addition to routes covered by traditional diesel-powered buses, RTA has several electric trolley bus routes. The Dayton trolleybus system is the second longest-running of the five remaining trolleybus systems in the U.S., having entered service in 1933. It is the present manifestation of an electric transit service that has operated continuously in Dayton since 1888. Dayton operates a Greyhound Station which provides inter-city bus transportation to and from Dayton. The hub is in the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority North-West hub in Trotwood.


Airports

Dayton International Airport lies in a northern exclave of the city and offers service to 21 markets through 10 airlines. In 2008, it served 2.9 million passengers. The Dayton International Airport is also a significant regional air freight hub hosting
FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the nam ...
, UPS Airlines, United States Postal Service, and major commercial freight carriers. The Dayton area also has several regional airports. The Dayton–Wright Brothers Airport is a general aviation airport owned by the City of Dayton south of the central business district of Dayton on Springboro Pike in Miami Township. It serves as the
reliever airport A relief airport or reliever airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) requires additional capacity, on a long-term or temporary basis. Reliever a ...
for Dayton International Airport. The airport primarily serves corporate and personal aircraft users. The Dahio Trotwood Airport, also known as Dayton-New Lebanon Airport, is a privately owned, public-use airport west of the central business district of Dayton. The
Moraine Airpark Moraine Airpark is a public-use airport situated in the city of Moraine, Ohio, United States. southwest of the city of Dayton in Montgomery County. Facilities and aircraft Moraine Airpark covers an area of which contains one asphalt paved ...
is a privately owned, public-use airport southwest of the city of Dayton.


Major highways

The Dayton region is primarily served by three interstates: * Interstate 75 runs north to south through the city of Dayton and many of Dayton's north and south suburbs, including Kettering and Centerville south of Dayton and Vandalia, Tipp City, and Troy north of Dayton. *
Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the c ...
is a major east–west interstate that runs through many of Dayton's east and west suburbs, including Huber Heights, Butler Township, Englewood, and Brookville, and intersects with I-75 in Vandalia, Ohio, just north of the city. This intersection of I-70 and I-75 is also known as "Freedom Veterans Crossroads", which was officially named by the
U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...
in 2004. I-70 is the major route to the airport. * Interstate 675 is a partial interstate ring on the southeastern and eastern suburbs of Dayton. It runs northeast to south and connects to I-70 to the northeast and I-75 to the south. Other major routes for the region include: *
US 35 U.S. Route 35 (US 35) is a United States Highway that runs southeast-northwest for approximately from the western suburbs of Charleston, West Virginia to northern Indiana. Although the highway is physically southeast-northwest, it is nomin ...
is a major limited access east–west highway that bisects the city. It is most widely used between Drexel and Xenia. *
Route 40 The following highways are numbered 40: International * European route E40 Argentina * National Route 40 Australia * NSW State Route 40 (Windsor Road and Victoria Road in Sydney) * Victorian State Route 40 * Mulligan Highway (Queensland) ...
is a major east–west highway that runs parallel to (and 2 miles north of) I-70 * State Route 4 is a freeway that is most heavily traveled between I-75 and I-70. * State Route 444 is north–south state highway. Its southern terminus is at its interchange with Route 4, and its northern terminus is at Interstate 675. This
limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...
serves Dayton and Fairborn and is a significant route to access points serving
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
. From 2010 through 2017, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) performed a $533 million construction project to modify, reconstruct and widen I-75 through downtown Dayton, from Edwin C Moses Blvd. to Stanley Avenue.


Rail

Dayton hosts several inter-modal freight railroad terminals. Two
Class I railroads In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US ...
, CSX and
Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
, operate switching yards in the city. Formerly the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
,
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
and the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
, and afterward,
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
made long-distance passenger train stops at Dayton Union Station on S. Sixth Street. The last train leaving there was the ''
National Limited The ''National Limited'' was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. (Buses took passeng ...
'' in October 1979.


Education


Public schools

Dayton Public Schools Dayton Public Schools is the school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves Dayton, Ohio. The district covers 49 square miles. Dayton Public Schools (DPS) is the 12th largest PreK-12 district in the state, with a 2017–2018 enrollment ...
operates 34 schools that serve 16,855 students, including: * Belmont High * Meadowdale High * Paul Laurence Dunbar High *
Ponitz Career Technology Center David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center is a technical school located in downtown Dayton, Ohio. Ponitz enrolls 800 students in grades 9-12 annually. Ponitz is also part of the Dayton Public School District. School information Ponitz Career T ...
* Stivers School for the Arts * Thurgood Marshall High


Private schools

The city of Dayton has more than 35 private schools within the city, including: *
Archbishop Alter High School Archbishop Alter High School, also known as Alter High School, is a Catholic high school in Kettering, Ohio, United States. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and is named after Archbishop Karl Joseph Alter. History I ...
*
Carroll High School Carroll High School can refer to: In the United States * Carroll High School (Alabama), Ozark, Alabama * Carroll High School (Flora, Indiana), Flora, Indiana * Carroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana), Fort Wayne, Indiana * Carroll High School (I ...
* Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School *
Dayton Christian School Dayton Christian School System is a private, non-denominational PreK-12th grade Christian school district located in southwestern Ohio. There are two schools in the system: Dayton Christian School, located on its Dayton campus in Miamisburg, Ohi ...
*
Dominion Academy of Dayton Dominion Academy of Dayton is a college preparatory school for grades K-12 providing a classical education based on the Bible, reason, and Tradition. It was founded in 1998 by Fr. Wayne and Sandy McNamara as a ministry of Christ the King Anglica ...
*
The Miami Valley School The Miami Valley School (MVS) is an independent school for grades Pre-K through 12, located in Dayton, Ohio, founded in 1964. The Miami Valley School is a non-profit organization. The Miami Valley School uses the Immersion Method, a philosophy b ...
* Spring Valley Academy


Charter schools

Dayton has 33
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s. Three of the top five charter schools named in 2011 are K–8 schools managed by
National Heritage Academies National Heritage Academies, Inc. (NHA) is a for-profit education management organization headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As of the 2019-20 school year, NHA operates 88 charter schools in nine states: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Nor ...
. Notable charter schools include: * Dayton Early College Academy * Emerson Academy * North Dayton School of Discovery *
Pathway School of Discovery National Heritage Academies, Inc. (NHA) is a for-profit education management organization headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As of the 2019-20 school year, NHA operates 88 charter school A charter school is a school that receives gover ...
*
Richard Allen Schools Richard Allen Schools (RAS) is a charter school system headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. It operates schools in Dayton and Hamilton. It was named after the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and a former slave, Richard Allen. ...


Colleges and universities

The Dayton area was ranked tenth for higher education among metropolitan areas in the United States by '' Forbes'' in 2009. The city is home to two major universities. The University of Dayton is a private,
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
institution founded in 1850 by the Marianist order. It has the only
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acade ...
(ABA)-approved law school in the Dayton area. The University of Dayton is Ohio's largest private university and is also home to the
University of Dayton Research Institute The University of Dayton Research Institute is the professional research arm of the University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is on ...
, which ranks third in the nation for sponsored materials research, and the Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton, which focuses on human tissue regeneration. The public Wright State University became a state university in 1967. Wright State University established the National Center for Medical Readiness, a national training program for disaster preparedness and relief. Wright State's
Boonshoft School of Medicine The Boonshoft School of Medicine (formerly known as Wright State University School of Medicine) is the medical school at Wright State University. It is located in Dayton, Ohio, and serves the Miami Valley region of southwestern Ohio. Instead of ...
is the Dayton area's only medical school and is a leader in
biomedical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from " basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scienti ...
. Dayton is also home to
Sinclair Community College Sinclair Community College is a public community college in Dayton, Ohio. History Sinclair Community College is named for David A. Sinclair, a Scottish immigrant and secretary of the Dayton YMCA (1874–1902), who founded the adult training scho ...
, the largest
community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
at a single location in Ohio and one of the nation's largest community colleges. Sinclair is acclaimed as one of the country's best community colleges. Sinclair was founded as the YMCA college in 1887. Other schools just outside Dayton that shape the educational landscape are
Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...
and
Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its ...
, both in Yellow Springs,
Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...
in Wilberforce, Kettering College of Medical Arts and School of Advertising Art in
Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...
, DeVry University in Beavercreek,
Cedarville University Cedarville University is a private Baptist university in Cedarville, Ohio. It is chartered by the state of Ohio, approved by the Ohio Board of Regents, and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Established in 1887, the school was origina ...
,
Clark State Community College Clark State College is a public community college in Springfield, Ohio. It opened in 1962 as Springfield and Clark County Technical Education Program. As of 2018, the school was approved for bachelor's degrees in web design and manufacturing tec ...
and
Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...
in Springfield. The
Air Force Institute of Technology The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is a graduate school and provider of professional and continuing education for the United States Armed Forces and is part of the United States Air Force. It is in Ohio at Wright-Patterson Air Forc ...
, which was founded in 1919 and serves as a graduate school for the United States Air Force, is at the nearby
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...
.


Institutions

*
Boonshoft School of Medicine The Boonshoft School of Medicine (formerly known as Wright State University School of Medicine) is the medical school at Wright State University. It is located in Dayton, Ohio, and serves the Miami Valley region of southwestern Ohio. Instead of ...
*
Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art mus ...
* Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology * School of Advertising Art * Wright State University


Crime

Dayton's crime declined between 2003 and 2008 in key categories according to FBI
Uniform Crime Reports The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and c ...
and Dayton Police Department data. In 2009, crime continued to fall in the city of Dayton. Crime in the categories of forcible rape, aggravated assault, property crime, motor vehicle theft, robbery, burglary, theft and arson all showed declines for 2009. Overall, crime in Dayton dropped 40% over the previous year. The Dayton Police Department reported a total of 39 murders in 2016, which marked a 39.3% increase in homicides from 2015.
John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times an ...
, a
bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...
during the early 1930s, was captured and arrested by Dayton city police while visiting his girlfriend at a high-class boarding house in downtown Dayton. On August 4, 2019, a mass shooting took place in Dayton. Ten people were killed, including the perpetrator; and twenty-seven were injured.


Sister cities

Dayton's sisiter cities are: *
Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
, Germany * Holon, Israel *
Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As t ...
, Liberia *
Ōiso 260px, Ōiso Long Beach resort is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 31,101 and a population density of 1800 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Ōiso is located on t ...
, Japan *
Rushmoor Rushmoor is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England. It covers the towns of Aldershot and Farnborough as well as Cove and North Camp. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Aldershot and the Far ...
, England * Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Notable people


See also

*
List of mayors of Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...
*
List of people from Dayton, Ohio The following is a list of people from Dayton, Ohio. Actors, entertainers, and models * Tom Aldredge, actor *Ralph Byrd, actor * Nancy Cartwright, voice artist *Max Charles, actor * Mystro Clark, actor, comedian, and TV host * Willis "Bing" ...
* National Aviation Hall of Fame * Politics of Dayton, Ohio * List of U.S. cities with large Black populations


Explanatory notes


References


Further reading

* Conover, Charlotte Reeve. ''Dayton, Ohio : an intimate history'' (1995
online
* Drury, Augustus Waldo. ''History of the City of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio'' (S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1909)
online
* Funk, Nellis R. ''A Pictorial History of the Great Dayton Flood, March 25, 26, 27, 1913'' (1913
online
a primary source * Millsap, Adam. "How the Gem city lost its luster and how it can get it back: A case study of Dayton, Ohio." ''Mercatus Research Paper'' (2017)
online
* Pocock, Emil. "Popular Roots of Jacksonian Democracy: The Case of Dayton, Ohio, 1815-1830." ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 9.4 (1989): 489-515
online
* Sealander, Judith. ''Grand Plans: Business Progressivism and Social Change in Ohio's Miami Valley, 1890-1929'' (1988) on Dayton and surrounding region. * Sharts, Joseph W. ''Biography Of Dayton - An Economic Interpretation of Local History'' (1922
online
* Walker, John T. "Socialism in Dayton, Ohio, 1912 to 1925: Its membership, organization, and demise." ''Labor History'' 26.3 (1985): 384-404. * Watras, Joseph. "The Racial Desegregation of Dayton, Ohio, Public Schools, 1966–2008." ''Ohio History'' 117.1 (2010): 93-107
online


External links


City website

Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce

Greater Dayton CVB
{{Good article 1796 establishments in the Northwest Territory Cities in Greene County, Ohio Cities in Montgomery County, Ohio Cities in Ohio County seats in Ohio Populated places established in 1796 Wright brothers