Vintage Dayton: Oct. 4, 2024

Dabel cinema theater. Dayton Daily News photo archive Mar. 16, 1992.

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Maybe Dayton Mall Cinema was one of your favorite places to see a movie.

Or maybe you went to the Dabel theater, or maybe Fairborn Twin Cinemas. Whatever your favorite, we all look back fondly on the places we went to see our favorite movies.

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For this edition of Vintage Dayton, we went into the archives for stories of the movie theaters we loved that are no longer around.

• TODAY’S FEATURED STORY: Movie theaters we miss: 6 former Dayton-area cinemas that no longer exist

More on Dayton theaters

The Classic Theater: A forerunner in Dayton’s Black entertainment scene, from new movies to Count Basie

Unique theaters and once-popular movie houses part of Dayton’s history

2 times the historic Victoria Theatre recovered from devastating fires


Did you know?

Here are a few great Dayton history facts we’ve learned from our stories:

• Ohio’s first 70 mph speed limit went into effect in 1963

In those days, I-75 ended at West Carrollton and became U.S. Route 25 through Dayton and northern Montgomery County. It became I-75 again at the Miami County line.

• Pete Rose’s first hit came on April 13, 1963

The hit king died this week at 83, and we looked back at the milestone hits that helped him set baseball’s record.

• More than 600,000 children from the area were part of the studio audience for the Uncle Orrie Show

The Uncle Orrie Show debuted on WHIO-TV in 1955, the same year Captain Kangaroo and The Mickey Mouse Club hit national airwaves.

• Dayton’s richest residents used to keep their most important valuables in the same place.

The Bimm Fireproof Warehouse used the latest trends in reinforced concrete to embed eight tons of steel within the 16-inch-thick concrete walls and floors of the six-story building on East First Street.

The first receipt from Bimm Fireproof Warehouse for transporting a barrel of cider for client Judge E.P. Matthews. PHOTO COURTESY OF LINCOLN STORAGE AND MOVING

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We want your help!

Do you have any requests or ideas that you would like to see us cover in this history newsletter?

What about cool old photos or stories of your own?

Let us know and we’ll include them in future newsletters.

As former President Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday this week, we had a reader reach out to ask if Carter ever visited Dayton as president. He did, and the story has a very interesting twist, which we learned when we first went into the archives about the visit.

Click here for our story: Looking back at Jimmy Carter’s 1980 downtown Dayton visit, which had a dark side

And if you like what you’re getting each week in the Vintage Dayton newsletter, please consider subscribing to the Dayton Daily News for as little as 99 cents.

Thank you for reading.

President Jimmy Carter waves to a crowd during a Oct. 2, 1980 visit to Dayton.  DAYTON DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE

Credit: Dayton Daily News Archive

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Credit: Dayton Daily News Archive