Attendance at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
Year Attendance
2000: 36,063
2001: 48,489
2002: 40,246
2003: 100,615
2004: 50,569
2005: 49,099
2006: 51,801
2007: 54,320
2008: 53,729
2009: 57,161
2010: 62,158
2011: 68,668
SOURCE: National Park Service
As the double-winged Wright B Flyer flew overhead, officials marked the 20th anniversary Tuesday of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in the historic neighborhood Wilbur and Orville Wright opened their bicycle company and printing plant in before they invented the airplane.
While area leaders, civic activists and historians marked the past of the Wright brothers and their friend, African-American author Paul Laurence Dunbar, the park has prepared to acquire the old Wright aircraft factory off West Third with a $3 million Clean Ohio Fund grant and additional pledges to clean up and restore the historic site where the first production American-built aircraft were rolled out.
Part of the site, once home to Delphi Corp. auto parts manufacturing, might be shared with aerospace-related tenants, said Park Supt. Dean Alexander.
The expected addition is a long way from where the park started when Jerry Sharkey first thought of the idea. Sharkey, founder of Aviation Trail Inc., acquired the old cycle shop for $10,000, twice the asking price, as the first step back into Dayton’s history.
“I looked around and said by God, all of this looked like when the Wrights were here,” he said.
Organizers jumped over congressional hurdles and initial National Park Service resistance attributed to budget constraints, leaders recalled.
“No one knew how it was going to get done, we just knew it was going to get done,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who served in the U.S. House and later the U.S. Senate when local leaders needed Washington’s backing to get the park off the ground.
Millions of dollars in investments near the Wright Cycle Co. complex on Williams Street has stabilized the once-decaying neighborhood with renovated homes and new shops, but additional work remains, officials said.
The Wright brothers “taught the world how to fly,” said Idotha Bootsie Neal, president of the non-profit Wright-Dunbar Inc., which focuses on the redevelopment of the West Third corridor. “We taught them how to rebuild a neighborhood.”
Park attendance has gradually risen in recent years, rising from 49,099 in 2005 to 68,688 last year, according to National Park Service figures. The park reached an attendance peak at 100,615 tourists in 2003, the centennial anniversary of the Wright brothers first flight.
The park, a public and private partnership, in Dayton includes the Wright Cycle Co. complex and visitors center, the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park, and the Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial, the poet’s residence, all in Dayton; Hawthorne Hill, the residence of Orville Wright in Oakwood; and Huffman Prairie Flying Field at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
About the Author