Dayton

Sister cities

• Sarajevo
• Monrovia
• Belgrade
• Augsburg
• Holon

History

Dayton was founded on April 1, 1796, by 12 settlers known as the Thompson Party. They traveled in March from Cincinnati up the Great Miami River by pirogue and landed at what is now St. Clair Street, where they found two small camps of Native Americans. Among the Thompson Party was Benjamin Van Cleve, whose memoirs provide insights into the Ohio Valley's history. Two other groups traveling overland arrived several days later. The oldest surviving building is Newcom Tavern, which was used for various purposes, including housing Dayton's first church, which is still in existence. In 1797, Daniel C. Cooper laid out Mad River Road, the first overland connection between Cincinnati and Dayton, opening the "Mad River Country" to settlement. Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1803, and the village of Dayton was incorporated in 1805 and chartered as a city in 1841. The city was named after Jonathan Dayton, a captain in the American Revolutionary War who signed the U.S. Constitution and owned a significant amount of land in the area. In 1827, construction on the Dayton–Cincinnati canal began, which provided a better way to transport goods from Dayton to Cincinnati and contributed significantly to Dayton's economic growth during the 1800s. NCR also helped develop the US Navy Bombe, a code-breaking machine that helped crack the Enigma machine cipher during World War II. Dayton has been the home for many patents and inventions since the 1870s. According to the National Park Service, citing information from the U.S. Patent Office, Dayton had granted more patents per capita than any other U.S. city in 1890 and ranked fifth in the nation as early as 1870. The Wright brothers, inventors of the airplane, and Charles F. Kettering, world-renowned for his numerous inventions, hailed…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Dayton's climate features hot, humid summers and cold winters, and is classified as a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa). Unless otherwise noted, all normal figures quoted within the text below are from the official climatology station, Dayton International Airport, at an elevation of about to the north of downtown Dayton, which lies within the valley of the Miami River; thus temperatures there are typically cooler than in downtown. At the airport, monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July. The highest temperature ever recorded in Dayton was on July 22, 1901, and the coldest was on February 13 during the Great Blizzard of 1899. On average, there are 14 days of + highs and 4.5 nights of sub- lows annually. Snow is moderate, with a normal seasonal accumulation of ,{{efn|This is far less than the snowbelt regions of northeast Ohio due to distance from the Great Lakes and slightly less than the generally warmer Columbus. Several streets were closed, including portions of I-75 and North Dixie Drive in Northridge. 64,000 residents lost power and much of the region's water supply was cut off. The Dayton Audubon Society is the National Audubon Society's local chapter. The Dayton chapter manages local activities contributing to the annual, hemisphere-wide Christmas Bird Count. The Chapter began participation in the National Count in 1924. The local Count was initially coordinated by Ben Blincoe, who was succeeded by Jim Hill in 1970. In the mid-1960s, the freezing of Lake Erie and associated marshlands led species of waterfowl to appear in the Dayton-area, where surface waters remained unfrozen. Nine varieties of birds have been observed…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  23,862
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  23,251
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  16,909
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,644
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  15,025
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  14,907
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,393
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,068

Largest nearby schools

• Kettering Fairmont High School
  High · Kettering · 2,486 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Wayne High School
  High · Huber Heights · 1,743 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• Miami Valley Ctc
  High · Englewood · 1,647 students
• Northmont High School
  High · Clayton · 1,392 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Belmont High School
  High · Dayton · 1,100 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Stebbins High School
  High · Dayton · 1,091 students · 19.1:1 ratio
• Kettering Middle School
  Middle · Kettering · 1,078 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• West Carrollton High School
  High · West Carrollton · 951 students · 17.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2026-02-22
  2 km NE of Hillsboro, Ohio
• M 2.9 — 2023-12-09
  5 km W of Jackson Center, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2008-09-30
  5 km SW of Kettlersville, Ohio