“For me, (the club) is about furthering my career,” said Debi Talentino, development manager for Composite Technical Services Inc., a local green technology start-up. “Everybody here seems to have a finger on the pulse of the community.”
That may be news to many Dayton area residents, who probably wondered if the club still had a pulse at all. Launched after the 1913 flood by the icons of Dayton’s innovation history — Col. Edward Deeds and Charles F. Kettering — The Engineers Club at 110 E. Monument Ave. has languished in recent decades because of an aging, dwindling membership.
No more, Mowry said. “We have over 400 members, plus their spouses. A substantial number are in their 40s and 50s — the sweet spot of their careers.”
Mowry said the club’s new leadership is not out to disown or dishonor its famed past, but to use it as inspiration to help a whole new generation of Dayton business and technology leaders reinvent their careers and, in the process, their community.
“This building encapsulates Dayton’s history, but it was not meant to be a museum,” he said. “We want this place to be a blend of the old and the new, the past and the future.”
In February, when executives from a composites manufacturing firm in Italy came to town to scope the area for a possible partnership, Talentino knew just where to take them for a white tablecloth luncheon that would impress them with the innovative advantages of Dayton: The Engineers Club dining room.
There the three executives not only met local researchers and officials from area start-up companies, they took turns sitting in the secluded chair where Orville Wright, co-inventor of the airplane, had his lunch every day. They also took a tour of the 1918 structure, chock full of exhibits of Dayton’s inventiveness, from an early airplane engine and the no-spark motor to the first Liquid Crystal Display and the pop-top can.
After a second visit to the club, the executives signed letters of incorporation in May to create Composite Technical Services, a new stand-alone firm here that will do research and manufacture products for the Italian firm.
Dayton won out over sites in Texas and California, Talentino said. “I’d love to say it was because of the club.”
Lou Luedtke, who recently started his own business technology consulting firm, BerryHill Partners, said the club brings together professionals from a cross-section of fields who can combine their technologies and arrive at innovative solutions to problems.
“If you stay within your own little silo, that’s all you’ll know,” he said. “Here you have the opportunity to make new connections and create a convergence of ideas.”
A $4 million renovation in 1996 restored the Tudor-style charm of the building’s wood-panelled rooms and beamed ceilings. In addition to a dining room and a grand banquet hall, the club has several conference rooms for smaller meetings, including the original library and the former ladies lounge, as well as a variety of private rooms for closing deals.
The 350-seat auditorium, where Charles Kettering once held his Saturday morning “Mr. Wizard” science programs for members’ children, now has a high-speed projection system and real-time videoconferencing capability.
The Engineers Club also can be a place just to relax or get your thoughts together before a presentation or meeting, Mowry said. The loggia area, an enclosed balcony with a view of RiverScape and Deeds Point, has been turned into a cafe. Service is provided through a window to what used to be the club’s small barbershop.
Orville Wright would get his hair cut there while watching his inventions fly and take off across the river at McCook Field, Mowry said.
“As crazy as it sounds, I feel the presence of the great inventors here from a bygone era,” he said. “Anyone can benefit from that feeling to reinvent themselves for the new economy.”
History of The Engineers Club
1914: Inventor Charles F. Kettering and industrialist Col. Edward Deeds form club to bring engineers and business leaders together following the Great Flood of 1913.
1918: Club moves to current building at 110 E. Monument Ave. The Georgian exterior and mostly Tudor interior are inspired by British clubs of the day. High-tech features include a built-in vacuum cleaning system and buzzer network for servants.
1936: First female member, Maude Gardner, accepted.
1937: Air conditioning system, one of first in city, installed.
1940s-1950s: Ranks swell with growth of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
1983: Decline of manufacturing and loss of businesses downtown hurt membership. Club faces $55,000 shortfall.
1985: Broken water pipe on third floor floods much of the building, causing $30,000 in damage.
1996: $4 million in renovations begin, thanks to new tax-deductible status of The Engineers Club of Dayton Foundation.
2007: Club placed on National Register of Historic Places.
Dues and fees
Individual memberships range from $144 per year ($12 monthly) for a full-time student to $720 per year ($60 monthly) for a member ages 30 and older. One-time initiation fees range from $25 to $125.
The club also has a minimum use account of $150 during each six-month period starting June 1 and Dec. 1.
Special rates are offered for corporate and group memberships.
For more information, call 228-2148.
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