[glow=red,2,300]Dayton[/glow] was always a walking town - a place to tramp long and hard.  I walked through much of it, and even after well over two decades of NYC living, I still find myself driving and walking Dayton in dreams.  Often the reverie is infused with some metropolis fantasy -- of neighborhoods I'd never seen before and of almost mythical projects coming to completion Downtown.

 

The Victory Theatre as it was circa 1975.  The theater had been saved from the wrecking ball about a year before, and it became a marvelous place for me to catch up on Hollywood pictures from every era.  Eventually, the theater inherited NCR's pipe organ, and I got to play it.  It remains my favorite theater.

 

 

Above, we see brown-baggers in the mid-70's heading toward Courthouse Square - the brownbagger's paradise.  To the left is the large marquee of The Metropolitan Company -- a clothing department store

 

I walked Dayton's streets nearly continuously from the age of 12 1/2 until I was 18 and left town for college.  But even then I'd return and see what was happening.  As Isaac Singer once quipped, "Every writer needs an address."  I guess this is mine.

 

 

[shadow=red,left]Downtown Dayton[/shadow] in the 70's was a wonderfully-layered place, filled with old and new.  Owing to the moneyed recent past of Dayton's business climate, there were a lot of fairly conservative-looking but pretty regal buildings in place all over the city.

 

Below, the Third National Building windows evinced an almost West 57th Street or even Broad Street (Manhattan) kind of ambiance.

 

A bank founded in 1863 (now part of the great American bank continuum), 3rd National was always a bank with a regal bearing.  Part of its activity was constructing the remarkable 3rd National Bank and Trust Building on Main Street, in 1926.  My aunt worked in this building for a period of time.  I once delivered sandwiches there.  Luckily, the building remains, though its provenance has been somewhat blurred of late, owing to different ownership and a covering over of its original large frontage sign.

 

 

The leading in these great windows is long-removed, and their original 1920's evocation seems to be largely compromised, but the puttees remain in place with the three house numbers still visible.

 

Just down Main a bit, on the North East corner of 2nd and Main, one finds the Daniel C. Cooper block -- made of fine granite marble and placed there in 1878.  There were a lot of business here, including Jessie's Six Barbers, a good jeweler named Roston, a luggage and shoe maker (George Helm & Son), and all the great stores down the street, including Fitszimmon's (big Steinway dealer) and the blessed Malone Camera Store, where I probably bought the film I was shooting.  The corner building now resides (or, its facade does) on another block -- wondering, always, why it is there.  The whole block was razed, in the late 80's, for Citizen's Federal Plaza.

 

 

Walking about a block West and South, one finds one's self in 1976, enjoying the fairly new Court House Square (const. 1973-1976) looking onto the developing Arcade Market building.  At this time, the only renovation of that vaunted place had been the removal of a tacky rectangular sign which had obscured the wonderful archway -- itself filled in by an old neon sign from the 30's or 40's.  The Arcade had another few years of life before it was close down in its quest to become an urban mall -- something still being contended 30 years later.

 

 

To the right of the Arcade Market entrance, there was a strange home-grown looking sign denoting a denim store called Jeans Glory.  The brick building to the right of that belonged to a Liberal Market grocery store -- part of the <i>Liberal's</i> (supermarket) chain -- at the time one of the nation's biggest.  On a portion of the square that we can see, there appears to be an art display and sale going one -- interspersed with posters depicting the nation's bicentennial celebration.

 

==> Continuing on on 4/24/2012:

 

Here's an image from about '77 -- right around the time the large Mead Tower opened to the public -- seen through the columns.  I'd say this hasn't changed, save that the stone work has been cleaned and repaired.

 

 

The Old Courthouse itself was always an object of fascination -- begun in 1847, or thereabout, and directly responsible for Dayton getting its first railroad depot (a train connection needed just to transport the granite).  I spent a lot of time there, doing a little volunteer city inventory work for the Montgomery County Historical Society, which operated there at the time.  It's still a magnificent building.

 

Continuing South:

 

 

Let's just fast-forward through time about 6 years from the last Arcade image, to a point shortly after the re-opening of the Arcade Market in its new guise as Arcade Square.  The banners were still out.  It was a great novelty.  I was lucky enough to land a job there shortly before starting college.  Chef Ming (the well-known one) worked along side me at his family's Mandarin Kitchen -- one of the first tenants to locate within Arcade Square during the late spring of 1980.

 

Back to the mid 70's, we find the massive Reibold Building, seen from Main.

 

 

This somewhat cloudy-looking photograph (due to the lens I was accorded on a strange little Japanese knock-off of a Leica) shows the Reibold still bearing the marks of its former department store past.  Elder & Johnston's operated within the large corner of the Reibold on the near corner.  It went up about 6 floors and was famous for its use of some very rare Otis escalators, which were still running at my last visit, many years ago, to get a new driver's license.  During the 70's, you could still take the escalators high enough to at least see Elder's preserved top floor, which was topped by a huge peaked skylight.  Amazingly, the store directory signs were still in place.  The skylight is still there, as far as I can tell, under a ton of roof shingles.  I will post more intimate shots of the Reibold at a later time.  It was a magnificent building to explore as a young teen.

 

Beyond the Reibold is an empty space created by the then-recently-demolished S.S. Kresge's Variety Store building. Does anyone know what the building was called?  It was a nice example of terra-cotta.  When it was pulled down in the mid-70's, the adjoining buildings remained for a time, revealing a few fascinating early 20th Century adverts.  The parking lot and the two corner buildings were all replaced by a county garage building of sort -- at least large enough to promote a little urban density, but not much else.

 

You can see the block a little more clearly in this slightly camera-motion-blurred picture from '75:

 

 

On this overcast day, the scene, shot from the pedestrian bridge connected to the Convention Center reveals the row of buildings which fitted out the Main Street block next to the Reibold Building.  On the corner is the red-brick Canby Building.  I have a piece of it here in New York.  Long story, but I risked life and limb to get it.  The Canby was a Frank M. Andrews building, just like the earliest wing of the Reibold.  I'm not sure about the middle structure.  The white building is that terra-cotta former Kresge's building, shorn of its distinctive spires atop each pilaster.  Far left is the Fidelity Building, and to the right is the gravel pit where Dave Hall Plaza would take form.  The Stouffer hotel was already under construction.  The flying concrete element is part of the original convention center design from 1972(?).

 

Looking North from the Reibold itself, one saw this, in 1975:

 

 

The image is rather grainy and crude, and it has been re-shaped in order to be seen clearly and with the right perspective, but there are some interesting elements here along Main Street at 4th.  The Centre City (orig. U.B.) Building's corner has an Indian Jewelry store in it.  Nearby is a Richman store - part of an old national chain of clothing stores for men.  The Joy Shop is still operating.  The sign near the street proclaims not only the Mall Motor Inn but the current rooftop restaurant - Ted Parker's Top of the Mall -- the inheritor of the Henrici space.  The famous coffee shop is also advertised.  Beyond that is the white, terra cotta high rise belonging to Beerman's, which had a tremendous Main Street sidewalk window.  One can just make out the sails of a ship(!) belonging to the sign of the Sirloin Galley.  The American Building (now in pristine condition) is met in height by the Gem City Savings tower and clock -- one of the most recognizable features of Downtown Dayton for a hundred years.  With the building's replacement by a large marble-fronted bank building by I.M. Pei and Partners, the tradition was ended.

 

But wait, there's more.

 

 

 

 

At the North end of Downtown Dayton there is a wonderful old high rise called, variously Insco Apartment Building, Newcomb Manor, even Harbor Hotel.  When I lived there it was called Newcom Manor.  I was walking home (as I often did) from Downtown, in early 1984.  My job, incidentally, was to manage the lunch delivery service of a now-long-gone tavern called The Sports Page (later, Boston's), situated on the ground floor of the Eva Felman Apartments.  I saw a For Rent sign in the building, was given the nickel tour, and fell in love at first glance.  It was (and is) a terrific little "fireproof" tower from 1897.  At birth, it was all luxury accommodations.  It would be consistent with the times to assume that it provided servant quarters with each apartment.  But, predictably, by the Depression, all of that changed, and the building ultimately became a common rental apartment house.  I've seen images of the roof now being used for parties.  Party on.  The building became National Register-bound a decade after my residence there, in 1994.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above shot was captured with a 75mm lens -- not wide-angle enough to include the cornice, frustratingly, but the idea is plain that this is a turn of the XXth Century building with rock-hard concrete construction.  The walls are very thick.  This is the North wall.  The rather lovely entrance is on Main Street and includes a historic plaque sighting this location as the original site of Newcom Manor -- Dayton's first house (1796).  When I scan more negatives, my hope is that more from this building will be available to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above shows Newcom Manor (Insco Apartments) along Monument Avenue, looking West toward the neighboring D. H. Peer Ltd -- a "natural shoulder clothing for gentlemen" store where I actually worked during my junior year in high school.  I stocked shelves, priced new arrivals, and general fantasized about owning the former private residence.  The upstairs bathroom had stained glass illumination.  It's a great city house.  The large tower in the background is the main YMCA -- now apartment living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above image (1984) was meant to capture my home of the time -- Newcom Manor (Insco Apartments), in the center of the picture.  It shows Downtown Dayton as I last saw it as a Daytonian.  To the right is the interesting 111 West Monument Building.  In the distance we see the Mead Tower (still dominated by its home-grown corporation), a bit of Rike's rear, and other familiar landmarks.  The Soldier's Monument had yet to return to the intersection.

 

 

 

 

Now, heading South again, I want to include one of my favorite images -- the famously-discussed [http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,16660.msg303567.html#msg303567] "The Mall", between Main and Jefferson.  This was a wonderful, small departure from the usual street grid, anchored by a fairly modern hotel called The Mall Motor Inn.  The hotel came equipped with two restaurants, a second-floor pool deck, and meeting rooms.  It's rooftop restaurant (Henrici's, Ted Parker's Top of the Mall, - then other names) was popular and afforded nice views.  On the Main Street side of the hotel was the actual "Mall" -- more really a conception which never happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That long-gone fountain has a plaque on it dedicating the fountain to former Dayton Mayor Burkhardt.  This was my favorite kind of urban image -- taken with a good camera (a Rolleiflex) and taking an unflinching view of, simply, what was there.  Always in the background is the distinctive Grant-Deneau Tower, from 1968 -- built on the site of the often missed B.F. Keith (later RKO Keith) Theater, at 4th and Ludlow.

 

 

 

 

And an accidental panorama from the late 70's:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The business in back (near the one pedestrian in the photograph) was the wonderful Lebanese Delicatessen.  The long wall is comprised of a ceramic mosaic -- meant to be a part of the shopping experience.  It's likely still there -- painted over in black.  It should be restored.

Your photos are high quality, and they capture well a different era. It's particularly evident in the amount of activity and number of people in the last one.

 

In the late sixties and early seventies as my lifelong love for bicycles and bicycling intensified, I found myself going outside Fort Wayne to look for good bikes. Bicycles here were mostly an adjunct to toy stores, where old ladies would sell you a bike if you wanted one, but they really didn't know anything about them and the selection was mostly limited to kids' bikes with cantilever frames, balloon tires, and Ashtabula cranks. The nearest real bike shops were in Lima (Charlie the Bicycle Man) and Dayton (Steve's). Steve's was out on Salem and was perhaps the best source in the region for quality components and custom frames from builders like Eisentraut, and I remember that in the mid- to late-seventies it was a going business in a decent neighborhood. After an absence of perhaps just a year or two, I returned to find the store with plywood over most of the windows and bars on the door. He was still in business but on a reduced scale and with more emphasis on screen-printed team apparel than on bikes. I don't know what drove that neighborhood off a cliff, but it certainly happened quickly.

Thank you, Robert.  Photography runs in the family.

 

As it happened, my parents and I moved to Grand Avenue in the Grafton Hill neighborhood (adjacent to Dayton View) in 1978.  So we drove Salem Avenue by day and by night.  Steve's was one of the landmarks as you drove South, down-hill.  Carlin Audio was another great Salem Avenue store, as was Ken McAlister's Art Supply, Fussnecker Vaccum (still in business, amazingly), The Dayton Theater Guild (since moved Downtown) and of course Troutman Sound Labs - a nationally-known recording studio.  From my mother I'd hear about the Salem Avenue of her youth, which included neighborhood theaters and even a tavern called Sully's where a young Jonathan Winter's often performed.

 

There were also two of three principal synagogues in town -- one containing some of the most beautiful windows ever produced for a house of worship.  Driving the terrain now, based on these memories, it's best to keep eyes forward.  There have been some bold attempts at restoring, preserving, even bringing business back, but it looks and feels unlike what it did.  Out of instinct, I've even looked for a certain Rolls Royce which used to be parked in front of a certain professional complex.  What was I thinking?

 

Salem Avenue was a great street, rolling through Dayton View, which featured middle and upper class sections.  It eventually rolled passed the Salem Mall, which became my first experience with a dead mall.  Kind of shocking.  Fortunately, the houses have largely survived, and there are some who restore the houses, but it may take some reverse migration movement to get Americans to reinvest in their cities.  Without this, we simply won't have them.

Excellent images.

 

I am so glad the Cooper Block facade was saved.

Added more images, ending with a view from East 5th Street, near the Convention Center.

This just made my night!  Keep these coming, please!

More added this morning.  Still figuring out the best way to display these things.

More on the way.

I have similar black and white photos taken around downtown Dayton from the mid and late 1970s. They always make me sad - the single striking fact is the sheer quantity of people on foot downtown back then. Downtown wasn't just a grade school student ghetto with loitering youths in the 1970s, it had some vitality.

 

I know exactly why Dayton collapsed through the 80s, 90s and 00's, because I witnessed the changes in the region first hand when I would come back to visit. But it's still sad to be reminded of the "delta" between back then and now.

Just terrrific!

 

I regret the demolition of the Gem City Savings tower.

Thanks, inc.  I always felt the same way.  The announcement of its imminent demise happened while I was a freshman in high school.  Before Gem City Savings ceased operations in the tower, I hastened to the adjacent American Building (begun as the Conover Building in 1900), got myself halfway out on a ledge, while some bemused office workers watched, and aimed my Rolleiflex and tripod for two frames.  That resulted in a photograph I was actually able to sell as a print to the S&L (where I myself banked).

 

Only this week (thanks to Adobe Photoshop) have I been able to see the combined image which finally allows me to display the full spire above the clock and much of the street below.  So from 1977 until this week, the result is here:

 

 

This is my tribute to the tower as I remember it.  Unfortunately, only the copper portion of the clock cupola was spared.  The renaissance revival base was lost.

 

 

This fragment is displayed at Carillon Park -- looking a little like the post-apocalyptic finale to Planet of the Apes. 

I have similar black and white photos taken around downtown Dayton from the mid and late 1970s. They always make me sad - the single striking fact is the sheer quantity of people on foot downtown back then. Downtown wasn't just a grade school student ghetto with loitering youths in the 1970s, it had some vitality.

 

I know exactly why Dayton collapsed through the 80s, 90s and 00's, because I witnessed the changes in the region first hand when I would come back to visit. But it's still sad to be reminded of the "delta" between back then and now.

 

RS: Can you share some?  Dayton was the perfect barometer for urban entropy.  It was a highly-diversified manufacturing and service city, combining private and government sector jobs.  And it offered an unusual focus on theater and the performing arts.  At its height, Dayton had between 800 and 1000 manufacturing plants operating at once(!)  For a number of years, in mid-century, it was the richest part of the State of Ohio.  It's, therefore, an unusually "rich" medium for urban study.  It surely got me interested.  Even now, Dayton does continue to surprise.  There's an inventive urge there which continues.

Man there is some good stuff here.  I particularly like the ones of the block the Riebold Building was on, showing the Canby bldg and the Kresge.  I've seen an old shot of the corner building (NW corner 5th & Main) but was wondering what those buildings looked like in modern times.

 

Also the pix of the mall are neat.  I did find out that the "New Orleans style" wrought iron treatment (now gone) on the bldg w. the bay windows was installed at the same time they built the mall.  But neat to see it in the original design (with that neat cubist/modern mural on the Joy Shop wall, I think).

 

 

I have similar black and white photos taken around downtown Dayton from the mid and late 1970s.

 

...you should scan and post 'em!

 

 

Jeffrey:  Thanks for the inspiration to make this happen.  Your report "From Market to Mall..." really started me on the road to re-investigating this archive.  I may have some nice surprises for you (as well as for me).

 

The first has to be this:

 

 

I'm not sure that I ever printed this negative.  It didn't look like much, but now, seeing it as it was meant to be seen, it's a view into the past.  I shot this from the Mall Motor Inn itself, and one can see that this is a view due West.  I remember now that the lawn of The Mall was nicely maintained, as you can see.  The serpentine wall would be to the lower right, just out of view.  The wall was infused with curved benches, interestingly.  Across the street (S. Main) is the 25 South Main Building -- still featuring its distinctive cornice.  I don't remember when this was removed for "safety reasons".  As you might observe, that sort of landlord-generated vandalism is step one in getting the building declared unfit.  Yet it's still there - quite empty these days.  The Gallenkamp Shoe store is one I had forgotten.  To the right of the plaza is the Beerman store.  Across the street again, under the double arches, is Donenfeld's -- one of the higher fashion houses from Dayton's past.  On the sidewalk, one can see a period RTA bus shelter.  This scene has to be from about 1975.

 

 

Looking the other way (East), the above displays a view from Market and Jefferson.  Market would have been the northern boundary of the old Market House.  The building on the near corner contained the Ohio Institute of Photography, and a group of Lawyers with the name Hollenkamp.  I do remember venturing into the building once.  The wood frame staircase was ancient.  Across Jefferson is, if I recall, The Patterson Building.  It reveals a wonderful period-style awning belonging to the Century Bar -- still operating, still a landmark.  There was also a little diner called Simple Simon's -- long erased with the renovation of this distinctive building.  Circa 1975.

 

 

Back across South Main, I wanted to share this mid-70's view of the Kuhn's Building, well before its renovation(s).  It was simply another busy block.  Green's was a Five & Dime.  The Dr. Scholl's store seems to have been there for a while, but the Mark V store - particularly owing to its temporary-looking sign, was a recent arrival.

 

The Kuhn's looks good from virtually any angle.  Here is part of its southern wall, from the Reibold Building, in 1977 (or earlier):

 

 

Next door, another great view of the Arcade Market and Shopping Center.  I was surprised to find that I had captured a few of the older signs in this frame, including a Culps Cafeteria emblem, midway over the sidewalk.  It's the smallest sign.  The old inverted-T shaped sign was a green neon fixture from the 30's -- also proclaiming the presence of a cafeteria.  I recall well that the serpentine Culps counter, with red chairs, remained mothballed within the arcade during its final years.  It looked as if it could have been put back into service within a week's notice.

 

 

--==--

 

 

Wanted to share the above view, too.  Can't be certain where it was taken -- either the Centre City Building or the The Mall Motor Inn.  The angle would seem to indicate the former, though the window sash is more of an early 60's period sash, belonging more to the hotel's era of construction.  It does highlight an often maligned tower -- the Grant-Deneau.  It's very possible that this image was taken from within the distinctive green pyramid of the Centre City Building.  The height would be about right.

 

 

Above is a view going the opposite way -- from Grand-Deneau to Centre City, and beyond. 1977.

 

 

Another aerial view I wanted to share is from one of the upper floors of the Reibold Building.  In the distance is the new Transportation Center (as of the mid-70's, when this was captured).  The grassy area below is the result of thorough-going "urban renewal" which erased three entire blocks of Dayton history, in the late 60's.  The park was dedicated to former Mayor Dave Hall.  I arrived too late to enjoy the State Theater, the Mayfair Theater, and the original Pony House Bar -- all taken away as yesterday's garbage.  Note the original stone formation on the earliest part of the Reibold complex (right side) -- with distinctive Charles Insco (Newcom Manor) flair.

 

 

Yet another view from above -- the long vanished roof art from "Fanjoy".  The billiard balls adorned the new Homestead Federal Savings building -- an early 70's modernist extravaganza with stainless steel walls, a stainless steel ceiling, and a skylight which wrapped down to provide two entrances.  In the front of this building -- it's South East facade, there were simple panels of stainless steel, a very prominent sign, near grade, and a wonderful fountain and corner park.  This was the kind of addition to the landscape which could only help -- having actually replaced a parking lot.  The Fanjoy art was later replaced with a royal flush.  But I thought the balls were a perfect reference to the building's triangular shape -- having been designed by Dayton's Richard Levin.  The photograph is a composite of two shots, taken from Winter's Tower at the offices of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce on the 14th(?) Floor.

 

 

This was one of Dayton's wonderful retail streets.  Much can be said about the loss of street-level retail which does not require entering a mall.  The Citizen's Federal Plaza occupies all of the historic building lots now, and there was an attempt to rescue these facades.  What happened to that project remains a bit of a mystery.  It was a considerable loss.

 

 

This is another view of the Cooper Block -- again from Winter's Tower.  Rike's held forth across the street, but the parking lot next door indicates that this shot came not long after Loew's Dayton was removed.  The little circus tent structure is a Fotofair -- a competitor of Fotomat, if you remember that convenience.

 

I particularly like the ones of the block the Riebold Building was on, showing the Canby bldg and the Kresge.  I've seen an old shot of the corner building (NW corner 5th & Main) but was wondering what those buildings looked like in modern times.

 

More info about the two buildings on the corner (the Italianate facades):

In their final incarnation, they were known as the Worman-Dye Buildings.  Historically, the were built and named for (on the left) John F. Ohmer (local industrialist/inventor) and Edward Canby.  Apparently, the Ohmer Building was Dayton's first fireproof building.  So, the stone in my entrance way is from the Ohmer Building -- named for a man who's taxi meters once fitted out most cabs in the US!  I did refer to "Craig MacIntosh's Dayton Sketchbook" for that information -- still a wonderful book, available from used booksellers.

What happened to that project remains a bit of a mystery.  It was a considerable loss.

 

The Cooper facade was saved and is reinstalled on the RTA center, but who knows about the other buildings...Jeffrey?

What happened to that project remains a bit of a mystery.  It was a considerable loss.

The Cooper facade was saved and is reinstalled on the RTA center, but who knows about the other buildings...Jeffrey?

 

Yes, I've seen the Cooper re-installation.  I still wonder what the ultimate design scheme is, since the former Main Street side faces where a north-south alley or lane might be.  There were rumours about saving the other facades.  Never found out if this was abandoned, as most of those facades were simply brick course and cornices.

Didn't know that building had a pool rack mural!

In Bing Maps it appears to be basic slate grey now.  Perhaps they should revive the decorative effect and have it featured on-line.  A contest?

I'm continuing to modify this section.

This image (an 8x10 glossy) was given to me by the Reibold Building manager, sometime in 1977.  I think it's from about 1967.

 

 

It clearly shows S.S. Kresge's terra cotta store (circa 1920) and building adjacent to the Reibold.  The building is missing its original small stone steeples which made it look a bit like an art deco castle.  The Reibold Building itself has just lost its ornamental renaissance revival entrance, in favor of a soulless modernization in brickwork.  Interestingly, the Kresge structure had replaced the Merrick Furs structure seen in this post card view:

 

 

It was a shorter building.  As such, ads were painted on the north side of the Canby Building, probably in the earliest years of the XXth Century.  When the taller structure was razed (sometime around 1975/6), the final ads to be painted before the taller building enclosed them, were revealed.  We can see that the Blommel Sign Company had placed the ads on the wall, surrounded by a trompe l'oeil Greek Revival frame.  Above that is a photographic studio ad, which may have referred to a business inside the building.

 

 

None of this mattered, as the two remaining structures were raised the following year (about 1978).