In January of 2008, owners Steve and Melanie Smith opened The Caroline in The Dye building, which was built on the southeast corner of Troy’s public square in 1866 for owner by William Henry Harrison Dye. 
W.H.H. Dye was likely the wealthiest man in Troy after the Civil war and also at the time of his death in 1900. He lived at the southeast corner of Franklin and S. Market streets in a large 2- story dwelling. After going into semi-retirement in 1865 William spent time wisely investing his fortune. This building was likely constructed as one of those good investments. Early on this building housed the Mammoth Boot & Shoe Store, C.Q. Sabin’s dental office, the E.R. Rinehart Cash Drug Store and Mr. Eli Kelly’s book and stationery store which also specialized in the sale of musical organs. In 1871 he established W.H.H. Dye & Son, Troy’s first private bank, which was located on the ground floor in the northwest corner of the Dye building. Eight years later he sold the bank to a Dayton firm and the bank eventually became known as the Miami County Bank. There remained a bank in this location until ca. 1900. During the 1880’s the Knights of Pythias met on the third floor of this building and every two weeks the Troy Dancing Club, a men’s organization, held dances here. As the space was so grand, the largest balls in town were held here, including masquerades, Firemen’s balls and New Year’s Eve balls.
From as early as 1875 there was a drugstore at 3 S. Market. These stores include: E.R. Rinehart Cash Drug Store, N. Tobey & Son, Chas. W. Tobey and the Magoteaux drug stores. 5 S. Market St. has been the home of dry goods stores including James Grunder & Co.; by 1911 it was the location of a 5 & 10 cent store. As early as 1927 G.C. Murphy & Co. had opened here and was in business until the early 1970’s. 7 S. Market St. has housed books and stationery shops, groceries and for many years was the location of a hardware store. These stores include: H.L. Hatfield & Bro., Hatfield & Scott and the Ralph Gibson hardware stores.
The ribbon cutting in Jan 2008.
For many years G.C. Murphy and Co. occupied the entire ground floor of the Dye Building. When G.C. Murphy closed their doors around 1971, the building became vacant. For most of the 1970’s and 1980’s, most of the building was deserted except for a business here and there on the 1st floor; the 2nd and 3rd floors ‘of this building were likely deserted even longer. In 1987 7 S. Market became the home of the Upper Krust restaurant which was replaced the following year by Taggarts restaurant which remained at this location until the spring of 2007 just prior to the sale of the building to Tony Blundell of the Medallion Investment Group which planned to renovate and restore the building.
On Monday, January 29th The Caroline, named after the Smith’s daughter, will celebrate their 10th birthday. As part of the celebration you can join them for a 10 oz. Certified Angus Beef brand House Sirloin, a baked potato, and tossed salad for just $10! They’ll also be giving away fun prizes throughout the night.
We asked owner Steve Smith to reflect back over the past 10 years and share some of his thoughts about the business.
Steve Smith bought the building in the fall of 2017 when the loan of the previous owner when into default. The second floor has 4 office which are leased out and he plans to move forward with conversion of the third floor into two or three condos, which had been started, but never completed by Medallion Investments, LLC.
