daytonmostmetro

Welcome to Week 16 of Mystery Mondays. The answer to Week 15’s Mystery Photo is: The grotto on the Dayton V.A. (Veterans Affairs) Medical Center campus. I took this photo on May 5, 2016.

The grotto was built in 1867-1868 when it was known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and later the Dayton Soldiers Home. Signed into legislation by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1865, the home was established in 1867.

Tours of the grotto will be available during the American Veterans Heritage Center’s 12th Annual Patriot Freedom Festival this Memorial Day weekend on Saturday & Sunday, May 28-29, 2016 from 11 AM to 6 PM on both days. This year’s festival theme is Honoring Women in the Military. The event is family friendly including free admission and free parking with food trucks, craft vendors, free live music & entertainment! Festival activities include: honoring ceremonies, historical military reenactors, guided historical tours, children’s activities, barrel train, kid’s corner, gardening, equestrian team, Miami Valley Military History Museum and more.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Charles Dickerson of Kettering! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 16:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 15 of Mystery Mondays. Many of you guessed this was at The Masonic Center, but the answer to Week 14’s Mystery Photo is: The library inside the Engineers Club of Dayton on Monument Avenue across from RiverScape MetroPark in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on November 16, 2015.

The Engineers Club of Dayton was founded in 1914 by Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Charles F. Kettering. The club’s current building was dedicated on February 2, 1918 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Muthanna of Fairborn! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 15:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 14 of Mystery Mondays. The answer to Week 13’s Mystery Photo is: The entrance door of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church (built in 1868) on Wayne Avenue outside the Oregon Historic District in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on February 26, 2015.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Violet Johnston of Xenia! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 14:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 13 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week 12’s Mystery Photo is: The Hartman Rock Garden in Springfield. I took this photo on November 2, 2015.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Tricia Orihood of Dayton! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

The Hartman Rock Garden is an American Folk Art site located on 1905 Russell Avenue in Springfield. Open 365 days a year from dawn until dusk, admission is free but donations are encouraged to maintain this work of art. The garden is one of the nation’s most intriguing and revered works of in situ folk art, an outsider art phenomena where self-taught artists construct fascinating worlds out of concrete, metal, stone, and whatever else they can find. Harry George “Ben” Hartman started work on the garden in 1932 during the Great Depression when he was laid off from his job as a molder. He worked on the project for 12 years until his death in 1944. Learn more about the history behind the Hartman Rock Garden by visiting hartmanrockgarden.org.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 13:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 12 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week 11’s Mystery Photo is: Replica of the Wright Brothers’ 1905 hangar at Huffman Prairie Flying Field on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I took this photo on August 7, 2015.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Katie Fleitz of  Dayton! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

Here’s some information about the Huffman Prairie Flying Field via the National Park Service’s website.

When the Wright brothers returned to Dayton, after their historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, they looked for a suitable flying field closer to home. Dayton banker, Torrence Huffman allowed the brothers to use his pasture, which was located eight miles northeast of Dayton, rent-free. Here in 1904 and 1905, through a series of unique experiments, the Wright brothers mastered the principles of controlled, powered flight and developed the world’s first practical airplane.

In 1904, the brothers made 105 flights, totaling 49 minutes in the air with their 1904 Wright Flyer II. With this flying machine, they made the first turn and the first circle in the air. They also employed a starting derrick for the first time and Wilbur set a new distance record.

The Wrights and their Wright Flyer II outside of the original hangar at Huffman Prairie Flying Field; Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

When the brothers returned to the Huffman Prairie for the 1905 flying season, they brought along an improved machine, the 1905 Wright Flyer III. This flying machine, which evolved throughout 1905, could bank, turn circles, and make figure-eights. On October 5, 1905, Wilbur piloted the plane for a world record of over 24 miles in 39 minutes. About two weeks later, the brothers ended their experiments for 1905 feeling that they now had a practical airplane that they could market. In the 1905 flying season, the brothers stayed aloft for 262 minutes in just 50 flights.

The Wright brothers returned to Huffman Prairie Flying Field in 1910. The field was used by their new business, The Wright Company, as a testing ground, flying school, and home to their exhibition team. The Wright Company ceased use of the flying field in 1916.

Today, Huffman Prairie Flying Field is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.

The 1905 Wright Flyer III can be viewed inside the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park and is the only fixed wing aircraft to be designated a National Historic Landmark.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 12:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 11 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week 10’s Mystery Photo is: The waterfall at Dave Hall Plaza near the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the corner of Fourth & Main Streets in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on July 14, 2014.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Mariah Busher of Dayton! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

Source: Levitt Pavilion Dayton Facebook page.

Here’s some information about Dave Hall Plaza, which also happens to be the future site of the Levitt Pavilion in 2018.

Dave Hall Plaza, dedicated in 1971, was named for Dave Hall, former Dayton City Commissioner from 1963 to 1965 and Dayton Mayor from 1965 until his retirement in 1970. Festivals such as the Dayton Jazz Festival, Dayton Blues Festival, Dayton Rock Festival, Dayton Reggae Festival and AleFest Dayton all take place at Dave Hall Plaza.

Source: Levitt Pavilion Dayton Facebook page

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 11:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 10 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Nine’s Mystery Photo is: The observatory at Moraine Farm in Kettering, former home of Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Mrs. Edith Walton Deeds. I took this photo on June 18, 2015.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Danny McKelvey of Kettering! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

Inside Moraine Farm’s laboratory just below the observatory. – September 26, 2014

Here’s some information about Moraine Farm’s observatory from the Kettering Health Network‘s Moraine Farm brochure.

The observatory dome is one of the architectural highlights of the house. When built, the Warner & Swasey 7-inch refracting telescope in the observatory was one of the first privately owned telescopes of its type in the world.

The laboratory just below the observatory houses a large arc slide projector that Colonel Deeds pointed out the window to project images of vacation photographs from glass lantern slides which had been colored by hand.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week 10:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 9 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Eight’s Mystery Photo is: Orville Wright’s statue as part of the full scale stainless steel replica of the Wright Brothers’ 1905 flyer at RiverScape MetroPark‘s Dayton Inventors River Walk in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on February 1, 2016.

We congratulate our randomly drawn winner Heather Leppla of McPherson Town! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

Here’s some information about the 1905 Wright Flyer replica from Five Rivers MetroParks.

The full scale stainless steel replica of the Wright Brothers’ 1905 flyer, the one in which Orville claimed the brothers really learned to fly, was created for RiverScape by Alabama artist Larry Godwin. The flyer is poised in mid-take-off with Wilbur at the controls and Orville looking over his shoulder at his brother from the ground. Wilbur and Orville owned a bicycle shop during the time they developed their flying machine, and it was the box for a bicycle tube that led to their success where others had failed. Wilbur held the small rectangular box, open at each end, and twisted it. In that movement he imagined “wing-warping,” the concept they applied to control the plane in the air. A series of quotes in the pavement beneath the flyer reveal the brothers’ consuming fascination with flight and their unbending persistence that led to their success as the inventors of the heavier-than-air flying machine.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Nine:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 8 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Seven’s Mystery Photo is: The River Run Mural on the Great Miami River across from RiverScape MetroPark in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on September 30, 2015.

Artist Amy Deal’s River Run Mural across from RiverScape MetroPark in Downtown Dayton – September 30, 2015

With a record number of entries this week, we congratulate our randomly drawn winner Lacie Shepherd of Springboro! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

The nearly 1,000 foot River Run Mural debuted in Fall 2015 on the almost 90 year old northern flood wall of the Great Miami River in advance of this year’s RiverScape River Run. Created by local artist Amy Deal, the mural was painted on the flood wall by the K12 & TEJAS Gallery. Read more about the River Run project here.

Artist Amy Deal’s River Run Mural across from RiverScape MetroPark in Downtown Dayton – September 24, 2015

Amy recently shared these thoughts with me about her creation.

“I included imagery that would relate to all ages and show off the health of our rivers. The imagery also reflects Dayton’s rich history. The crossed lines represent the Wright Flyer and the circles represent our history with the bicycle. The river is a wonderful location for healthy activity – running, skating, kayaking, rowing. The colors were chosen to work with all 4 seasons. They are exciting yet subtle enough that the wall is not constantly screaming in your face – more calming.”

“I love watching the water levels. I’ve had some friends comment that the kayaker is really kayaking today. I was initially worried that there would be a dirty water line after the water recesses, but it’s been fine. I can’t wait for the River Run this summer!”

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Eight:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 7 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Six’s Mystery Photo is: The Ludlow Building on 136 South Ludlow Street in Downtown Dayton. I took this photo on March 27, 2015.

Congratulations to our winner Curt Dalton! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way!

The Ludlow Building in Downtown Dayton – March 27, 2015

The Ludlow Building, built in 1916, was designed by the Pretzinger & Musselman architectural firm for Adam Schantz, Jr., who used his father’s estate to redevelop Ludlow Street into an important commercial thoroughfare. This building has distinct facades (one in brick with terra-cotta & metal trim and two in glazed terra-cotta veneer) designed to make one building look like three different buildings. The Terra-Cotta Historic District where the Ludlow Building sits, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (added on May 31, 1984).

This building was formerly occupied by Reynolds & Reynolds as part of it’s downtown campus before relocating it’s headquarters to Kettering’s Miami Valley Research Park in 1999. The current occupants are Premier Health Partners and Dayton Public Schools.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Seven:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 6 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Five’s Mystery Photo is: The atrium of the Kuhns Building in Downtown Dayton.

Congratulations to our winner Rachel Gensler! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way! I took this photo on February 18, 2014.

Atrium of the Kuhns Building in Downtown Dayton – February 18, 2014

Exterior of the Kuhns Building – December 26, 2013

The Benjamin F. Kuhns Building was built in 1883 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1978. This five story building, situated on the corner of Fourth & Main Streets next to The Dayton Arcade, was designed by Dayton based architectural firm Peters & Burns and constructed by Dayton contractors Beaver & Butt (this is not a joke).

Constructed in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, the building was used as a clothing store, department store, an arts school and was one of the first buildings in the United States to install a mail chute.

The building’s namesake, Benjamin F. Kuhns owned a company that produced agricultural equipment. He was also one of the founders of Miami Valley Hospital.

Currently, the Kuhns Building is almost at full capacity and home to the Better Business Bureau, AIDS Resource Center and many other businesses.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Six:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Welcome to Week 5 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Four’s Mystery Photo is: The Huffman Block Building aka David Building on East Third Street in Downtown Dayton.

Many of you got this one right!  Congratulations to our winner Emily Kim! Rapid Fired Pizza certificates are coming your way! I took this photo on December 17, 2015.

This building will be part of the exciting new Fire Blocks District redevelopment by The Ellway Group which is projected to include 57 residential units and 10 1st floor retail units. Here are some interesting facts about the Huffman Block Building from fireblocksdistrict.com.

The Huffman Block Building aka David Building on East Third Street in Downtown Dayton

On May 14, 1914, the Dayton Daily News announced that the Huffman heirs had taken out a permit for the construction of a $125,000 building on the north side of East Third between Jefferson and St. Clair streets.  The heirs included William H. Simms, Charles H. Simms, Miss Lizzie Harries, Mrs. L H Mumma, Mrs. Mary L. Aull and Miss Anna M. Huffman, all members of well-known business families in Dayton.  Construction of the Huffman Block (111-129 Was Third street) began in June, 1914 and was completed by late December of that year.

On February 7, 1915, the newspaper published an article praising the building and extolling its many modern features. Titled “New Huffman Block Credit to City: Modern New Business Block Rises from Ruins of Building Lot by Fire,” it clearly illustrates the city’s fascination with the ultra-modern, “fireproof” buildings quickly becoming an important part of the city streetscape.

The building housed a variety of small retail and light industrial companies including The Patterson Tool and Supply Company, the Dayton Iron and Steel Company, the Dayton Boiler Compound Company, the Burnett-Larsh Manufacturing Company plus office supply and furniture stores.

Constructed in 1914, it is an excellent example of the conservative Commercial style buildings common to many urban streetscapes in this period.  This wide brick veneer building is ten bays wide.  The high concrete foundation is faced with polished granite.  Bays 1-4 and 7-10 are commercial store fronts.  Bays were altered by First National Bank  to allow for a drive through service.  Above the first story retail bays, the Chicago Commercial style windows are divided by brick piers.  A brackets cornice is located just below the parapet.  The parapet is shaped above the first, last and center bays.  The rear facade is red brick and is banded with 2/2 light windows.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Five:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.

Remains of a street car in the Argonne Forest at Possum Creek MetroPark – January 6, 2016

Welcome to Week 4 of Mystery Mondays.  The answer to Week Three’s Mystery Photo is: The remains of a street car in the Argonne Forest at Possum Creek MetroPark in Dayton.

Streetcars from the 1920s once sat in Argonne Forest Park

Unfortunately, there wasn’t one person that answered correctly. The Rapid Fired Pizza certificates will have to stay put until next week. I took this photo on January 6, 2016 during an impromptu Winter hike.

Here are some interesting facts about the old Argonne Forest Park from history.metroparks.org.

Argonne Forest Park was founded in 1930 by Daytonian Null Hodapp, who returned from WWI and had a successful career as a judge in the area. Null purchased nearly 400 acres of wooded land along Germantown Pike and named the property Argonne Forest Park in honor of the Unit he served in during the war. Development of the park began with the construction of a veteran’s clubhouse. Behind the clubhouse, to the south, was a carnival-like midway. Development of the clubhouse area was followed by other additions. These included a swimming hole and diving platform, baseball diamond, shooting range, dance hall, pony and horse tracks, and a figure-eight auto race track.

It was not until World War II and gas rationing that crowds began to dwindle and the demise of Argonne Forest Park soon followed. After Hodapp’s death in 1945, some small parcels of land were sold off. In 1966, the park district bought the remaining land.

A part of the area today, still called Argonne Forest, is located in the northwest portion of the park. Dominated by tall beech trees, it is not unusual to hear the hoot of a great horned owl or see deer while walking the trails here. The close observer can still find hints of the original park. A low L-shaped wall, once part of the swimming pool, can still be seen and remains of three street cars are hidden on the forest floor. A large cement square, which may have been part of the dance floor, also remains. Most of the figure-eight auto track is now under a lake built by the Park District in 1979, but a hiking trail still follows portions of the old track. The building that was once the veterans’ clubhouse still stands on the southeast corner of Germantown Pike and Frytown Road. Behind it, some of the buildings that were part of the carnival midway remain.

I’d like to give special thanks to Amy Forsthoefel, Marketing Research Manager with Five Rivers MetroParks for providing me with research resources for this article.

We challenge you to tell us where in the Dayton area this photo was taken by filling out the form below.  We’ll do a random drawing from all those with a correct answer and the winner will get 2 pizzas from Rapid Fired Pizza.

Enter here:

http://goo.gl/forms/dyU55fzc48

We’ll post the winner next Monday with details about the photo as well as a new photo to challenge your knowledge of the Dayton area.

Thanks for playing and good luck!

Here’s our Mystery Photo for Week Four:

Photo by Tom Gilliam of DaytonGram & Tom Gilliam Photography.