East Second Street District

This row of seven commercial buildings at 3-27 East Second Street sits in the commercial core of downtown Dayton, on the site of the old Dayton Marketplace. Six buildings date from 1858-60, and the Eaker Block, an Eastlake-style stone building, was erected in 1878 by Mary Belle Eaker. The others include Renaissance Revival designs in Northern Italian and Romano-Tuscan modes and a Romanesque Revival stone building. Most rise four stories with painted brick or stone load-bearing walls and low-sloped shed roofs. Original occupants included wholesale grocers, dry goods merchants, a notions dealer and boot and shoe manufacturers, reflecting Dayton's growth from 11,000 to 20,000 residents between 1850 and 1860. The Eaker Block later housed a bicycle and Cadillac business and a business college. Storefronts have been modernized, yet the upper facades keep their detailing. The group is described as the last intact set of mid-nineteenth century commercial buildings in the city and a fine example of High Victorian Italianate commercial architecture.