West Third Street Historic District

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.