McPherson Town Historic District

McPherson Town is a compact residential neighborhood of about 96 buildings on the north bank of the Great Miami River, just across the Main Street Bridge from downtown Dayton. Platted in 1845 by Samuel McPherson and annexed to Dayton in 1868, it filled in mostly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. A levee built in 1897 and the filling of the Dayton View Hydraulic in 1906 eased flooding fears, and middle-class families replaced early structures with larger Queen Anne and Eastlake homes. Streetscapes include Stick Style houses, brick Victorian vernacular dwellings, and the 1886 Hawthorne School, noted for fine brickwork. Early twentieth-century additions include the Floral Terrace townhouses of about 1912 and the Spanish Colonial Revival El-Morado Apartments of 1924. The neighborhood was badly damaged by the 1913 flood but recovered. Only six later buildings intrude on its historic character, and the district was listed for its architecture.