{"nrhp_refnum":"86000236","name":"Wright Cycle Company-Wright and Wright Printing Offices","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"22 S. Williams St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dayton","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.75376487400007,"lon":-84.21193212299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-02-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1990-06-21","areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Engineering","Transportation","Communications","Invention"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial building with a rear frame addition at 22 South Williams Street in Dayton, Ohio, built in 1886 by Abraham and Joseph Nicholas and later used by the Wright brothers for their bicycle and printing businesses.","why_significant":"The building is tied to Wilbur and Orville Wright's careers as printers and bicycle manufacturers, and to their invention of the airplane. The brothers made their own bicycle brands here between 1895 and 1897, gaining the mechanical experience and money for their flight experiments. It is also where they became seriously interested in flight after Otto Lilienthal's death in 1896. It is the only surviving property tied to their bicycle business.","narrative":"Built in 1886 by Abraham and Joseph Nicholas, this two-story brick building at 22 South Williams Street in Dayton first housed a grocery, feed store, saloon and boarding house. In 1895 Wilbur and Orville Wright rented it for the Wright Cycle Company and Wright and Wright Printing. Here they began building their own bicycles, including the Van Cleve and the St. Clair, and assembled their first gas engine to power shop machinery. The skills and income from the bicycle trade helped fund their later aeronautical work. In 1896, news of Otto Lilienthal's death reached Wilbur through the wire service the printing firm used, deepening the brothers' interest in flight. The building was later converted to a two-family home, then restored to its appearance in a photograph Orville took in 1896 or 1897. It opened as a museum in 1988 and is the only surviving property associated with the Wrights' bicycle business.","period_of_significance":"1895-1897","architect_builder":"Nicholas, Abraham and Joseph, builder","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored to its turn-of-the-century appearance and opened as a museum on June 28, 1988, with office space for the owning organization's staff.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.821181-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/86000236_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000236/3f1072dbd3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000236/3f1072dbd3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wright_Cycle_Company_Offices.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wright_Cycle_Company_Offices.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986526","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Cycle_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8038202"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/wright-cycle-company-wright-and-wright-printing-offices-86000236/"}