South Park Historic District

South Park is a 24-block residential district just south of downtown Dayton, preserving the best remaining part of a once much larger neighborhood. About half of its housing is modest L-shaped vernacular and cottage dwellings, many with Eastlake porches or Gothic-shaped gable windows. Second Empire, Italianate and Queen Anne houses, two Romanesque Revival churches, and several brick Federal houses add variety. Wrought iron fences, limestone hitching posts and carriage houses reinforce the nineteenth-century character. The area was once called Slidertown, a rough collection of shacks. After John H. Patterson placed the National Cash Register Company factory nearby in 1884, he promoted gardens, yard contests and welfare programs, and the neighborhood became South Park. Many NCR managers, salesmen and factory workers settled there alongside German-born craftsmen. With the original glass factory buildings demolished, the district is described as the last physical reminder of Patterson's commitment to his workers. Park Drive's boulevard remains its focal point.