Tom Gilliam

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.