Posted June 9, 200619 yr The Dayton one , not the Cincinnati one. A thread on a neighborhood that climbs the hills south and east of the old part of the Dayton: Walnut Hills. A good illustration of hilly Dayton as well as a generic Dayton neighborhood of the Gay 90s/Progressive Era.... The thread will first go up Wayne Avenue, a main route out of the city to the south suburbs, and also the first transit route up into the hills via a horse car. Then a visit to the old Asylum at the head of Wayne. Then, into the neighborhood proper, streetscapes and illustrations of Hilly Walnut Hills, plus some local vernacular architecture peculiarities. Finally, a walk Wyoming Avenue, the northern boundary of the neighborhood and one of Daytons inner-city busy streets. If you are interested, plenty of neighborhood history at these web pages, put up by the restores of the Edgar house: History of Walnut Hills part I A history of the Development of the Neighborhood Wayne Avenue Originally the Waynesville Road, one of the early pioneer routes, it lead out from Dayton on the southeastery tangent, up a hollow or valley in the hills. The land around was purchased by an early settler of Dayton, a Mr. Edgar, whos son was one of the founders of the "hydraulic company" that provided water power to Dayton's early factorys. Edgar was also a quarryman, discovering a limestone outcropping on his land...the stones from his quarry went to make the Old Courthouse downtown. Later, in the 1870s a horsecar line was built up Wayne to the Insane Asylum, which lead to Wayne being the first axis of "suburban" growth into Walnut Hills, as the Edgar heirs and sucessors subdivided the property. As this was the Edgar farm, here is the original farmhouse with a victorian edition..the Edgar House The current owners are restoring it and have a website and blog on the progress, which is a ton of fun to follow!....worth looking at if you ever want to restore an old house... Welcome to Our Nightmare This Old Crack House (I have to say I really repsect and admire the work these folks have done with that old house). More Wayne Avenue houses This beautiful Victorian home was built by Samuel Edgar in the 1860’s for his daughter, Marianna. Gertrude Moore and her children moved to Dayton in 1914 following the death of her husband, a cabinet and coffin maker. The first woman to graduate from embalming school, Gertrude and her second husband, Fred Schlientz, opened Schlientz & Moore Funeral Home in 1921 at 2600 Wayne Avenue, relocating to the former Edgar home in 1936. It is still operated by the founders’ descendants. (from the MCHS website) This elegant homestead was built in 1866 by Samuel Edgar as a wedding present for his daughter, Margaret. In 1922, it became the first funeral home in Dayton. Before the 1920’s, undertakers operated out of storefronts and wakes were held in the homes of the deceased. Ben Westbrock, following a new national trend, transformed the old home into a full-service funeral facility. Westbrock began as an assistant to undertaker Peter Meyers before opening his own business in 1892. Today, the business is operated by the third and fourth generations of the Westbrock family. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. (from the MCHS website) Eshter Price Candies grew from a fudge recipe learned in Home Economics at Schiller School (later Lincoln School) to one of Dayton’s most cherished businesses. Esther Rose Rohman, born in 1904, first began making fudge as a girl in her home at Dover and Wyoming Streets. After her marriage to Ralph Price in 1924 and the birth of twins in 1926, Esther supplemented the family income by selling her candy to downtown businesses and department stores from their house on Fauver Avenue. The superior quality of her candy was immediately recognized and her home business grew rapidly. In 1952, she moved her business to the present location on Wayne Avenue. In 1976, James Day and Ralph Schmidt bought the business and continue Esther Price’s tradition of excellence. (from the MCHS website) (interior shot) Looking north on Wayne, down into the valley, deeper into the city. The spire of the Lutheran church in the Oregon district terminates the vista down Wayne. Looking south on Wayne up the hill downtown up Wayne again Old fire station Wayne Avenue houses "Stately Wayne Manor" Wayne Avenue buisnesses. This and Wyoming where sort of the buisness streets of the neighborhood as there are no little corner stores or taverns on the sidestreets, like one sees in other parts of Dayton. This was before zoning, too. Also, note how its houses being converted to retail by the adding on of a storefront. Tank's. This was voted the "best tavern in Dayton" (or something like that in one of those newspaper polls) Getting near the head of Wayne at the top of the hill.... At the head of Wayne the road forks, with Wilmington Pike heading to the right into the suburbs and Wayne and Waterveliet heading to the left to the Belmont neighborhood. The pergolas and gateway was the original entrance to the State Insane Asylum View from the Pergola, down Wayne toward downtown The asylum has been restored and is now an old folks home. Across from the Asylum is Walnut Hills park ..with views over Dayton and the Miami Valley Hilly Walnut Hills Exploring how the city works its way up the hills. Architecturally this neighborhood is sort of transitional between 19th century urban vernacular building and the bungalow/foursquare era of the 00's and 'teens, with the older parts more near Wayne, and Wyoming.... houses further up the hills, behind these houses... Hilly alleys and angled streets.... Slopey streets... ....and the somewhat subtle nature of the hilly neighborhoods of Dayton..one knows one is climbing up these slopey streets and benches, yet no real views. When you're on top, one can catch occasional glimpeses of the broad valley and the blue distance as the land flattens out into the plains of Ohio Walnut Hills Sidestreets Just a few vignettes of the sidestreets of Walnut Hills. The streets here sometimes run at odd angles ..and just some good generic Dayton working class neighborhood vibes here, too.... ...the yellow house belongs to Drexel Dave Sooo Daytonesque.... COLORADO AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, 101 Heaton Avenue. In 1903, the Baptist Union purchased a lot in Walnut Hills. Three years later, when the Third Street Baptist Church moved to a new building, the old edifice was dismantled and moved to this empty lot at Colorado and Heaton Avenues. The building was used for a Sunday school mission of the Linden Avenue Baptist Church until 1913 when the congregation organized as the Colorado Avenue Baptist Church. The present building was erected in 1916. (from the MCHS website) Doubles are worked in between single family houses Impressive multifamily Porches of Walnut Hills ...a local neighborhood vernacular..... Walnut Hills Corner Tower Houses ....another neighborhood vernacular..... Wyoming Avenue The northern boundary of the neighborhood. South of here was developed in the 1870s and 1880s. Walnut Hills was platted by 1895. This street has a few small buisness clusters, and was one of the transit routes through the area as the Dayton-Xenia Interurban came through here in the 1890s, running a "city car" streetcar service out down Wymoning, up through neighboring Ohmer Park, and into Belmont (the larger and heavier interurbans continued on to Xenia, as late as 1940). Wyoming is today one of Daytons inner city busy streets....also a place to pick up on the hilly aspect of Dayton....and.....as this about Walnut Hills most of these pix will be of the south side of Wyoming.... Skateboard shop for the skate-punks Chef Leos Chinese Restaurant in this neat mixed use building... Neighborhood buisness cluster... Nice bungalow.... Wyoming dropping down into the valley...Wyoming starts out on a sort of bench and drops down into the valley..... Jesus is Lord over Walnut Hills... Old neighborhood movie theatre: I like this corner building.... ...and a few 19th century vernacular houses..shotguns and urban I houses, as one approaches the Wayne and Wyoming intersection
June 9, 200619 yr I rarely go over there. Good job. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 9, 200619 yr ^ ...the appeal there is the slope and angled streets making the place somwhat photogenic. The good Victorian stuff is on Wayne. Yet those oversized porches and the tower houses where different. Has anyone ever been in Tanks? Frankly the place looks pretty redneck to me, so I was suprised to see it on one of those "best of" lists.
June 10, 200619 yr Has anyone ever been in Tanks? Frankly the place looks pretty redneck to me, so I was suprised to see it on one of those "best of" lists. Not a black man's cup of tea. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 11, 200619 yr love those row houses - and like Ink said - THOSE PORCHES - would have been a neat place to grow up I think. thx for that fantastic/exhaustive tour - that 'multi-family' was great
June 11, 200619 yr well - not really row houses - how about rows OF houses? this one particularly caught my eye
June 12, 200619 yr ^ Has anyone ever been in Tanks? Frankly the place looks pretty redneck to me, so I was suprised to see it on one of those "best of" lists. When I was at UD we went to Tanks all the time. They have a huge import/microbrew selection and the best chili in Dayton (or anywhere for that matter). I've probably only been in there once in the last 3 years, but the clientle when I used to go wasn't any more redneck than any of the other "local" bars we went to in the city.
June 15, 200618 yr What a beautiful and informative photo-tour. Makes me somewhat nostalgic for the good ole days of drinkin' beer and smokin' cigarettes well into the night on one of those porches.
June 15, 200618 yr When I originally saw the name of the thread, I got nostalgic thinking that it was about Walnut Hills the bar, which is near UD on Brown St and opens up at 5:30 in the morning on the weekends. Never knew there was a neighborhood named Walnut Hills near there. Great pics! Has anyone ever been in Tanks? Frankly the place looks pretty redneck to me, so I was suprised to see it on one of those "best of" lists. Went there a few times while in school--some of the best bar food I've ever had.
June 16, 200618 yr Interesting neighborhood. Those porches are delightful. Neat photos and super informative thread!
August 5, 200618 yr So, here I am sitting around on a lazy, Friday evening in Portland, Oregon, looking-up Ohio sites so as to introduce a friend of mine to the surreal world that is Dayton... my hometown. After having a laughing fit :lol: at Jeff's recent post about the Appalachian Festival on Xenia Avenue (well, I had a lauging fit; my friend didn't see the humor in it... beyond the hair, at least), I excitedly opened this post in anticipation of a culture shock of a journey down Wyoming when what greets my eyes?? Oh, wait... this is Wayne Avenue, I lived there once... :wave: Hey! I know that Old Crack House! :-o OMG!! I used to live in that OTHER crack house!!! I lived in both the front and rear apartments on the second floor (and, for awhile, I even had friends living in the first floor front apartment with the old front door opeing to stairs down the hill). Though the place is rather shabby (I named my house mouse Fievel), countless details of its glory days remain in all four of the flats it is now carved into. In addition, the owner lives next door. Also pictured: Thanks for the flashback!! :drunk:
August 5, 200618 yr PS... unfortunately, we had no access to what appears--from the outside, at least--to be one of the most glorious attic spaces ever. We did, however, have an awful lot of fun nosing around in the creepy, crumbling basement.
August 6, 200618 yr great pics... and I LOVE tanks....I go there every weekend by myself for breakfast and take in a good book while waiting for my food. It's kinda like my Cheers...everyone there knows my name and vice versa. It's kinda red-necky....but also heavily UD dominated as well. Overall, it's a mix of people. They serve really good food for a bar...and yes, you can in fact drink your way around the world at Tanks....I think it's something like 63 beers?
August 6, 200618 yr nice thread jeff, informative as always. i liked that old movie theater, what a shame to let it rot like that. also, yeah those porches are fun, wacky but i like'm Has anyone ever been in Tanks? Frankly the place looks pretty redneck to me, so I was suprised to see it on one of those "best of" lists. Not a black man's cup of tea. no it aint, but its not really redneck either. its more yuppie/college if anything. regardless, its one of the best bars in ohio. all those beer choices and yes good food? whew. speaking of....no walnut hills bar jeff? heh! yes i know it moved a million times and moved to the ud area on brown i think, but it's always kept the name.
August 6, 200618 yr Nice thread Jeff. I live about two blocks from Walnut Hills and pass through it each day to and from work, but we were really looking at a few houses in Walnut Hills before we settled on the one we ended up buying. The Ohmer house and the area around it is also a pretty nice area within the neighborhood. Tanks is great...as others have said, great bar food, good beer selection, and a good mix of people. mrnyc, yeah, are are right about Walnut Hills the bar. It was in the building that is now Tanks, then moved downtown, then moved to the corner of Brown and Wyoming, and now is in the back of the new shops on Brown Street. Apparently the two owners of Walnut Hills had a falling out and one kept the building at Brown and Wyoming (now Jimmy's Cornerstone Bar) and the other got to keep the name (the new Walnut Hills Bar).
August 26, 200618 yr I went to Tank's once on a snowy March night. I was rather impressed. The outside doesn't show the inside atmosphere. But I agree, people really seemed to know each other in there which I love.
January 26, 201015 yr I'm so glad Walnut Hills has its own thread here. Its hills make for some great little streets.
January 28, 201015 yr The guy who is restoring the Edgar mansion is now mayor. OMG...http://thisoldcrackhouse.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html is now the mayor of Dayton? Fantastic!
January 28, 201015 yr His name is Gary Leitzell and he actually comments on local blogs (ie esrati.com) and the Dayton online magazine/forum (daytonmostmetro.com/forum) sometimes. He's independent and a real person, not just a politician.
January 29, 201015 yr There is a post about his win here. We could talk more about him there. @@@ For me Walnut Hills is sort of a melancholy place. That moodyness might show up in these snapshots. At first I wished it to be a Highlands or Germantown, but it's not that way. Then I saw it more as a Chicago place, Cragin on hills, but it's not that either. I first explored it when I first moved here, when Dayton was still a soft city for me. The mix of light, street angles, and ascending eleveation left an impression or mood on me of a possibility that I could never catch again in return visits. Almost like remembering a dream of a place, that is famililar but not as in reality, yet the impression I got was real. So I return to Walnut Hills with this melancholy sense of memory, a sense of dis-enchantment. I hope this doesn't sound too nutty.
January 29, 201015 yr Not too nutty at all. In fact I have had that thought more than one time before. It is surreal in a lot of ways.
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