{"nrhp_refnum":"88003194","name":"West Third Street Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Wright Cylce Company Shop"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly W. Third St. between Broadway and Shannon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dayton","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.75574459200004,"lon":-84.21198656513016,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-01-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A linear commercial historic district along West Third Street between Shannon Street and Broadway in Dayton, Ohio, with a short extension south on Williams Street. It holds two- and three-story brick commercial buildings built between 1885 and 1924, in a former streetcar suburb.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion B for ties to Orville and Wilbur Wright, whose printing and bicycle shops stood in the district and where they began aviation experiments. It also cites Criterion C for a cohesive group of late 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings in Romanesque Revival, Italianate and Neo-classical styles. A later addendum also notes an association with poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.","narrative":"This three-block commercial strip on West Third Street in Dayton, Ohio, grew up as one of the city's earliest streetcar suburbs, beginning in 1869. Its 28 contributing buildings are mostly two- and three-story brick blocks from 1885 to 1924, with stores at street level and offices or apartments above. Styles include High Victorian Italianate, commercial Romanesque Revival, Georgian Revival and Neo-classical Revival, with the Walters Block as the standout example. The district matters for its link to Wilbur and Orville Wright, who ran printing and bicycle businesses here. Their Wright Cycle Company building on South Williams Street is where their aviation experiments began, and the 1903 airplane was invented at 1127 West Third Street, a building later moved to Greenfield Village. Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar also grew up nearby. Demolition and fire have left gaps, and the 1200 block was excluded for that reason, but the remaining buildings still convey the character of an early streetcar commercial block.","period_of_significance":"1885-1924","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Italianate, Romanesque, Classical Revival","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Some buildings are altered or lost to demolition and fire. The Midget Theater storefronts are described in an addendum as abandoned, and the Hoover Block is slated for rehabilitation as an aviation museum.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.907135-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/88003194.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003194/069756ca9d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003194/069756ca9d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Wdzinc","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Third_Street_Historic_District_(Dayton,_Ohio).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Wdzinc</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Third_Street_Historic_District_(Dayton,_Ohio).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990545","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49579115"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/west-third-street-historic-district-88003194/"}