Our primary stop of the day is Carillon
Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio. This really tells the story of Dayton’s
industrial sector. The story starts with John Patterson and his founding of
National Cash Register Company. There is a huge collection of cash registers,
most of them quite ornate and filled with lots of small mechanical parts. They
also have a very simple one, intended to be so inexpensive, it would kill the
competition. Their advertising pitch was addressed to customers: “get a receipt”,
which their cash registers would produce.
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National Cash Register Machines |
Engineers from this firm founded
their own firms: DELCO which invented the first practical car batteries and
electric starters (to replace the hand crank), and Dayton Bicycles (later
Huffy) among others. There is a good animatronic presentation of the founding
of these industries. Of course, this is also where the Wright brothers, working
in the back of their bicycle shop, designed the first heavier than air, flying
machine. The
National Wright Brothers Museum is within the park, telling their story. It
culminates in the actual 1905 version of their plane – the first plane that
could turn, make multiple landings, and could fly for up to 40 minutes.
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1905 Wright Brother Model III |
On the grounds are several historical buildings: a
schoolhouse, print house, and tavern. We had a great discussion with the folks
in the 1935 Print Shop, showing off early offset-presses and linotypes. There
is also a building devoted to telling the story of Dayton’s 1913 flood and
another on transportation which has an 1835 locomotive engine used on the
B&O railroad as well as a classic parlor car. On a previous visit we went to the Air Force Museum which I also highly recommend.
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B&O Engine #1 |
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