FairgroundsNeighborhood.com - The Fairgrounds Neighborhood of Dayton, OH

Fairgrounds Neighborhood History


Where Has the Neighborhood Been? History Specifics of the Neighborhood 1993: The Start of Revitalization Associations: The Rubicon House and the Development of Social Capital History The Fairgrounds Neighborhood has a long-standing history of overcoming adversity from its beginning onward. Originally known to locals as "Slider Town," the Fairgrounds neighborhood existed as a slum in the mid 1800's. The neighborhood was plagued with unruly gangs of young boys, mud roads, and dilapidated housing. It was not until John Patterson, President of the National Cash Register Company 1884-1921, came to the realization that the neighborhood surrounding his company was negatively impacting business that things started to change. An example of this occurred when Patterson extended a job offer to any highly sought after executive. During the late 1800's Mr. Patterson attempted to recruit executives from the East Coast to come to work for him in Dayton, Ohio. Initially, the new employees would be provided housing in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood via a rooming house. Once the executive established himself as worthy to Mr. Patterson, a parcel of land would be given to the employee on the outskirts of the city. The area where the executives built their homes is known today as Oakwood. According to the former archives director of NCR, Bill West, on sought- after executive turned down the job offer. Mr. Patterson soon found that the young executive turned down the offer because of the conditions of the neighborhood where the rooming house was located. This had a tremendous impact upon Mr. Patterson and changed his business strategy. Initially, Mr. Patterson had focused his efforts on the sale of the cash register. Now the focus would shift to the employee making the cash register and the conditions of his neighborhood. Many of the young boys in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood became apart of the Boys Club created through NCR. Essentially this was a training ground for future NCR employees. Therefore, in order to receive the greatest output from his employees, Mr. Patterson realized their physical as well as social well being needed improvement. "Slider Town" soon became a project of renewal and revitalization for Patterson. National Cash Register hired Frederick Olmstead, the individual who designed Central Park in New York City, to landscape the neighborhood. Supplies such as seed, hoes, etc., would be given to the Fairgrounds residents and instruction sessions were provided on how to beautify the homes. An improvement association was formed and contests occurred where prizes were given for the best-kept premises. Community associations are not new to the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. From the beginning, neighborhood associations formed to combat existing problems. Some examples of neighborhood associations included the Women's Century Club, Men's Welfare Work League, and the Boys' Box Furniture Club. Much like today, community concerns and association meetings were an integral part of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. In addition to NCR playing an integral part of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood development, the creation of Miami Valley Hospital was also vital. By 1890, Dayton's population reached 60, 000 residents. Medical care was direly needed as diseases, including malaria, typhoid, and pneumonia, claimed the lives of many residents. Reverend Carl Mueller, a German Lutheran minister, gathered 803 Daytonians to pledge $1 each to form the Protestant Deaconess Society, which was the predecessor of today's Miami Valley Hospital. On October 18, 1891, Miami Valley Hospital opened its doors to the city on E. Fourth Street. It was not until 1904 that Miami Valley Hospital moved to its current location, which then was referred to only as the intersection of Apple, Main, and Brown Streets. In its early years, Miami Valley Hospital provided the community with seven physicians and 37 beds. By 1900, the hospital opened Dayton's first maternity ward as well as a School of Nursing. The Fairgrounds Neighborhood housed those students who attended the Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing. In 1916, Miami Valley Hospital had grown to five buildings, which included x-rays, a dental clinic, a surgical center, and a center to treat crippled children. Furthermore, Miami Valley Hospital became a regional center to treat polio and by 1959, it housed Dayton's first intensive care unit. Today, Miami Valley Hospital holds true to its traditions by leading the way in progressive medical treatments. During the early years of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood one could see the importance of National Cash Register and Miami Valley Hospital. The University of Dayton also played an important role in the development of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood, however, this did not occur until recently. The University of Dayton has a history of students residing within the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. In the 1950s through the 1970s, the neighborhood provided essential housing for the students. Specifics of the Neighborhood Early on, the Fairgrounds Neighborhood was abundant with businesses and services that current residents desired. In 1915, the neighborhood supported several grocers, a dentist office, physicians, barbers, saloons, and cigar manufacturers. Accessibility was a key factor for residents because most walked to work, school, and church. Rooming houses were utilized in the neighborhood during this time as well. In 1915, there were five rooming houses on Frank Street, three on Jasper, four on Ashley Street, and one on Fairgrounds Avenue. The use of the rooming house during this time was to provide temporary housing for employees and students. Temporary housing was the intended purpose of the rooming house as it was never the design or intent of the rooming houses to become permanent residences. The rooming houses would often allow individuals to work or attend classes in nearby factories/schools. Some interesting changes came about to the neighborhood during this time. In 1895, Ashley and Frank Streets dead-ended into Rubicon. This inhibited traffic from accessing Brown Street. By 1915, with the increase of residents and traffic both Ashley and Frank Streets were opened to allow traffic to access Brown Street. What drove this demand for increased accessibility was the surge in population. In addition, the onset of the automobile created a demand for more roadway accessibility. The examination of historical city maps, provided by the City of Dayton/Montgomery County Library, revealed that the number of homes on Ashley and Frank Streets doubled during the period from 1897-1915. In 1897, the homes on the block had detached garages, which were located at the rear of the home lot. By 1915, the lots were divided in half and garages were torn down. Where the garage previously stood, a new home was erected. The change allowed for twice as many homes to be created. Furthermore, this created an alleyway where before it would have been the middle of a single lot. Throughout the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's the Fairgrounds Neighborhood essentially remained unchanged. The number of vacant residences remained very low and the number of local businesses remained stable for local residents. It was during the mid 1960's that an alarming trend in the neighborhood was noted. During this time, an increase in the number of vacant residencies throughout the neighborhood was found. The trend of vacancies was not limited to just the residential portions of the neighborhood. In addition, businesses started leaving the neighborhood during this period. This trend continued into the mid 1970's when declines in the local manufacturing base started affecting the neighborhood. Factories had closed and the City of Dayton was losing residents at an alarming rate. CityWide Development was created in 1972 to combat the decline. CityWide Development began to help businesses and strengthen city neighborhoods through the creation of jobs. The Fairgrounds Neighborhood had a pivotal year in 1975. NCR had reduced its workforce in Dayton from a peak of 20,000 in the 1950s to just 5,000 by 1975 and had closed the manufacturing plant on Stewart St. The result of this move was an acceleration of the decay within the neighborhood. According to the 1975 Williams City Directory, close to 10% of the two hundred residential structures within the neighborhood were vacant. The number of residential structures being converted into boarding rooms was increasing and reached a peak of 26. Not only had the number of rooming houses increased, but also a shift in the clientele had occurred. As was previously stated, NCR used the rooming houses within the neighborhood to house new employees. By 1975, the NCR employees had been replaced with seasonal, students and transient boarders. Currently some of the rooming houses are being used to house persons recently released from prison. The end of the 1970s saw 20% of the residential stock either vacant or turned into rooming houses. Rental or owner occupied homes accounted for the remaining properties, with a large percentage being rental. As the housing make up of the neighborhood changed, the crime rate increased. Vacant houses became venues for drug sale and some of the transient residents supplemented their income at the expense of the neighborhood's residents. During this time frame, the businesses on the fringe of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood were affected by the decay of the neighborhood and the economic downturn created by NCR's factories closing. Brown Street was hit the hardest among the three major streets that compose the business district. By the mid-1980s, nine buildings in the business corridor, between Wyoming Avenue and Stewart Street stood vacant. Gone were the local markets, pharmacies, dentists, and beauty shops. Four bars and six fast food restaurants replaced them. The Westward Ho, one of the last remaining full service restaurants in the neighborhood, became a parking lot in the early 1990s. Over the last seventy years, the business community has come full circle. In 1915, the business community was growing out of the slums of Slider Town, and by the time it reached its height in the 1940s and 1950s it was able to fulfill more than the basic needs of a vibrant neighborhood. There were four groceries, two theatres, a bowling alley and personal service businesses: e.g., doctors and beauty shops. A cooperative partnership developed between the neighborhood and the business community. By the mid 1960s the business community started to dwindle to the point where by the mid-1980s, few of the basic needs of the community were met by the business community. Currently, the business community is undergoing a redevelopment and resurgence not unlike that of 1915. However, there is one big difference in this new business environment. The business district is targeting a different crowd. Upscale fast food restaurants like Panera Bread and Chipotle have opened, and their intended customer targets are people outside the neighborhood. This change in business approach means that people inside the neighborhood must travel outside the neighborhood to meet their basic needs. Instead of an atmosphere of cooperative partnership, an atmosphere of friction exists between the neighborhood and the business community. This situation has been enhanced by the shared problems of parking and traffic flow. 1993: The Start of Revitalization By 1993, the death of the community was imminent. The number of vacant houses had suddenly increased and with that came an increase in crime These increases forced more owners to move out, and they were replaced by absentee landlords who did very little to maintain their properties. A vision of hope for the community came in the form of a program designed to teach troubled Dayton school students construction skills The Improved Solutions for Urban System Program, also known as ISUS, bought dilapidated, vacant homes to be refurbished by students learning a trade in construction. In 1993, ISUS purchased thirteen vacant homes on Frank Street homes that had previously been used as venues for drug sale, from CitFed Bancorp at a cost of $50,000. It took the students about a year and a half to renovate the first home. The first home was sold in 1996 for $40,000, and the last homes were sold in 1998 for $85,000 each. ISUS soon found that one of the positive results of their home rehab program was an increase in the remaining property value. This meant that they priced the program out of the neighborhood. They left knowing that their work on Frank Street had instilled a feeling of pride within some of the neighbors to the degree that some upgraded their own homes with windows and siding. The completion of the ISUS Program coincided with another key event for the Fairgrounds Neighborhood-the initiation of the Rubicon Master Plan. A 15 member Rubicon Park Master Plan Committee was formed in 1996 and set out to define improvement strategies for the entire Rubicon Park District of which the Fairgrounds Neighborhood is a part. The completed Rubicon Master Plan deemed the Fairgrounds Neighborhood the top priority for neighborhood redevelopment. In the same timeframe, Miami Valley Hospital initiated plans to expand its facility and along with the expansion committed $1 million for redevelopment efforts in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. This commitment of funding provided the impetus for the formation of a large-scale redevelopment effort in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. The redevelopment effort was named Genesis and involved not only Miami Valley Hospital, but also the University of Dayton, the City of Dayton and CityWide Development Corporation. This partnership was formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding that specified the organizational structure of the Genesis project along with financial arrangements, real estate transactions and contractual obligations. The Genesis Project is a comprehensive redevelopment project that is designed to purchase vacant houses and either tear them down and rebuild new homes in their place or to refurbish homes that are structurally sound. The project also allows for the giving of low interest loans to existing homeowners for the purpose of remodeling. As an incentive to purchase a Genesis home, a low interest loan program has been established. Under the management of CityWide Development Corporation, the Genesis Project has, as of October 2002, acquired 64 properties, demolished 40, built eight new homes, and renovated nine. Currently, there are eight new homes, two renovations, and nine townhouses under construction in the neighborhood. The Genesis Project will reach its completion in 2003. Associations: The Rubicon House and the Development of Social Capital In his book, What Dayton, Ohio, Should Do To Become a Model City, John Patterson stated the importance associations play in the continuing development of a neighborhood. Unfortunately for the Fairgrounds Neighborhood there were no emphases placed on the development of a strong neighborhood association, from its birth in 1915 through its demise in 1976. There was no association to fight for the neighborhood's survival. In 1988, the Southeast Priority Board chartered the Fairground Neighborhood Association. From its conception, the association was plagued with low membership mostly due to the number of vacant and boarding houses within the neighborhood. The University of Dayton understood the importance of developing a strong and vibrant association. Working through Strategies for Responsible Development (SRD), the University started to use its resources to help develop the leadership of the neighborhood association. With the purchase of the property at 1056 Brown Street, the University showed the neighborhood the seriousness of their commitment to its successful revitalization. The Rubicon House has become a central place for neighborhood activities ranging from children's activities to business and neighborhood committee meetings. Additionally, Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) funded social workers and neighborhood police patrols in an effort to develop the social capital inside the neighborhood. MVH has become an anchor in the community. It is committed to the total revitalization of the neighborhood, so much so that they have opened up their doors to the neighborhood association. The association meetings are now held there once a month. Most of the major funding for the neighborhood revitalization will end next year with the completion of the Genesis Project. Both UD and MVH understand that Mr. John Patterson was correct in his statement about the vital role of a neighborhood association. The growth of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association out of the rubble of the neighborhoods of the 1970s will be essential to the continued growth of the Fairgrounds neighborhood. Special thanks to the students of the Fall 2002 University of Dayton Leadership in Building Communities seminar whose work resulted in the report from which this history was taken.

Please send all updates or corrections to Mark Ferguson | Page last updated September 3, 2003