Steele's Hill-Grafton Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Grafton Hill is a residential neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, on the rise once called Steele's Hill and platted in 1875 as Belmonte Park by farm implement manufacturer John Stoddard. About 120 houses, shaded by large maples and often paired with rear carriage houses, display Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, Neo-classic and Craftsman designs. Other buildings include Longfellow School from 1882, Northminster Presbyterian Church from 1902, the terra cotta Miller Building and Delux Apartments from 1926, several early 1920s apartment blocks, the Dayton Art Institute and the Masonic Temple. The district was listed because its houses are among the finest of their styles in the city and remain remarkably intact. It also records Dayton's earliest successful suburban growth north of the Miami River, built for manufacturers, executives and professionals. The elevated site stayed attractive after the 1913 flood, and the neighborhood remained prestigious until a decline in the 1950s.