Dayton History by the numbers
22 full-time staff
25 part-time employees
About 250 active volunteers across the eight sites represent $250,000 annually in donated time.
Source: Brady Kress, Dayton History’s president and chief executive
DAYTON — The Dayton community has greater access to its regional heritage sites since Dayton History was created five years ago through the merger of Carillon Historical Park and the Montgomery County Historical Society.
In recent years, Hawthorn Hill, Old River Park, Memorial Hall, the Old Court House and the Paul Laurence Dunbar House have been opened or re-opened to the public through Dayton History management agreements.
Dayton History last year relocated the historical assets and buildings from the Kettering-Moraine Museum to Carillon Park. Those buildings included the Deeds Barn, in which Charles Kettering invented the electric ignition and the self-starter, innovations that revolutionized the automobile industry.
“Other entities are seeing the value of Dayton History and the talent, experience and the professional guidance that the organization can bring to their organizations,” said Eric Cluxton, Dayton History’s board chairman.
The August 2005 merger ultimately brought together three organizations, including the Kettering-Moraine Museum, with different operations but similar missions, said Brady Kress, Dayton History’s president and chief executive.
“What we’re able to do with the Dayton History mission and organization is to really set ourselves apart as the keeper and operator of Dayton’s stories, artifacts and historic sites,” Kress said.
The private nonprofit organization also manages Patterson Homestead and the corporate archives of NCR and DP&L.
Dayton History has increased its earned income through county and state stipends to cover utilities at the various sites it manages.
It has increased visitation and reduced operating costs at sites such as the Dunbar House.
“By leveraging the strength of Carillon Park and the new merged organization, we’re able to save the taxpayers a lot of money,” Kress said.
Dayton History also boosted its earned income by securing a liquor license for Carillon Park and making the facility available after museum hours for weddings, receptions and corporate events. Opening Carillon Park year-round to the public has increased revenues at Culp’s Cafe and the museum store.
“It’s not just setting up the mannequins with the Victorian clothes on it any longer. It’s a multifaceted operation,” Kress said.
Dayton History continues to work on the master plan for 65-acre Carillon Park unveiled last year.
The $5.5 million Heritage Center for Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship is scheduled to open in summer 2011. The structure will house the original Deeds Barn, as well as an exhibit built out of materials from the former NCR Building 26, which housed a World War II codebreaking project and was demolished in 2007.
Work also is under way to create an event lawn and trail system in the park.
Kress doesn’t expect Carillon Park to be finished during his tenure. “We will always be building and growing and dreaming of the next thing to tell more and more stories of this region,” he said.
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