The Wright brothers’ Dayton, Ohio, landmarks have been named to the World Monuments Fund’s “Irreplaceable America” list, recognizing the sites where aviation history was made.
The designation highlights the locations where Wilbur and Orville Wright developed the technology that made powered flight possible while emphasizing the importance of preserving America’s aviation heritage.
It covers a collection of sites connected to Wilbur and Orville Wright’s work, including Huffman Prairie Flying Field, where the brothers conducted flight testing and advanced their aircraft designs; the Wright Cycle Company building; the Wright & Wright Printing Company; and the Wright family home, Hawthorn Hill.
The Dayton locations showcase how the brothers moved from experimentation in their bicycle shop to creating a practical flying machine that changed transportation worldwide. Their work culminated in the first successful powered flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, followed by years of testing and refinement in Dayton.
The World Monuments Fund’s “Irreplaceable America” initiative is designed to bring awareness to historically significant places and encourage preservation efforts through partnerships, funding and public engagement.
The nearby Air Force Museum is simply the finest collection of military aircraft anywhere in the world, and (at least prior to the current anti-science, anti-DEI administration) one of the most disability friendly with accessible ramps and high speed scooters available free. Let’s ignore for the moment that the control freak fundamentalist Christians empowered by faux believers Trump, Vance, and Hegseth deleted thousands of textual and photographic references to the atom bomber. “ Enola Gay” ( fully restored and on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia).
I was disappointed to see several years ago when I visited these sites in Dayton that Henry Ford had disassembled the Wright brothers’ home and had it reassembled for display in Michigan. The Dayton home sight now simply has and outline in the grass showing where the home once stood.
I thought the original Wright brothers’ cycle shop was in Greenfield village, part of the Ford museum? So what is it with that photo of a corner cycle shop? The shop was verified by a Wright and Taylor themselves, and the drill press that Taylor used to make the crankshaft for the Flyer is there. I cannot find any reference to a second cycle shop in Ohio, Somebody help with that, please.
I do not recall seeing their home in Greenfield, but the cycle shop is there, as is Edison’s New Jersy lab.
The shop in the photo is part of the Aviation Heritage Park, which is out of frame to the left.
The Wrights had six different shop locations mostly in close proximity in Dayton. Two building survive today. One in Dayton, which you can also tour, and the second, Ford moved the shop where they created the Wright Flyer to Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan in 1937.
See the current shop on Google Maps:
LOL - SteveR, your TDS is showing! But it’s good to get some comic relief via your posts. Carry-on!