15 North Broadway- The Wright Aeronautical Laboratory

(Revised 10/21/24) 

At 15 North Broadway in West Dayton, there stands a reproduction facade of a building that had once stood there for 60 years, the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory. At the cost of a bit over $300,000, the facade commemorates the building Orville Wright had occupied 6 days a week, for over 30 years of his life.(1) He had the building constructed in 1916, and moved his equipment from the former Wright Cycle Shop at 1127 West Third Street to his new office/laboratory. The 1903 Wright Flyer was housed here from 1916 through 1928. It was reassembled and disassembled multiple times for display at MIT in 1916, the Pan American Aeronautic Exposition in New York in 1917,  at the Society of Automobile Engineers Summer Meeting in Dayton in 1918, displayed again at the New York Aero Show in 1919, set up at South Field Dayton for a week or two for lawsuits evidence, and finally in 1924 for the International Air Races in Dayton. Each time it was  then stored again at 15 North Broadway until it was shipped to London to the Science Museum in South Kensington in 1928. The laboratory had been listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in May of 1973.(2)   Unfortunately, it was demolished by December of 1976.   Though the original building no longer exists, photographs and memories remain, and are presented in this post- a trip back to Orville Wright's Laboratory.

 

Reproduction facade of 15 North Broadway Wright Aeronautical Laboratory on location of original building. (26)

   
  

Adjacent to the photo at lower right of plaque located behind the 15 North Broadway facade, it reads, "This 1930's photo shows the front of the one-story workshop built by Orville Wright in 1916 on a lot he and Wilbur bought in 1909. Here, in the years following Wilbur's death, Orville perfected the split-wing flap and the automatic stabilizer...." (26)

In May of 1909, Wilbur and Orville purchased property at the NW corner of North Broadway and West Third Street.  The home on the property, 1207 West Third, owned by their friend Joseph Boyd's family, was eventually demolished to allow construction in 1912 of a three-story commercial/residential building with addresses 1201-1211. The structure was named The Boyd Building by Orville in honor of the Boyd family as they had owned the property for many years.(4)(33) Initially, the building was also referred to as the Wright Building, or the Wright Brothers Building.

Joseph Boyd, Soaps, Perfumery and Specialties, Northwest corner of Third and Broadway, from 1893 Dayton Directory.

Gem  City Flower Shop located in the Wright Building, 1207 West Third Street, ad from Dayton Daily News, May 9, 1913, just 5 weeks after the Flood. The Gem City Flower Shop first opened their doors at the Wright Building on December 21, 1912.

 

Teddy Burnell Shoes, located at the Wright Bros. Building, from April 5, 1914 Dayton Daily News.

Orville's father, Milton Wright, in a letter to grand niece Grace Frazier, wrote in March of 1911, "The family are all well. Of course they are good to me, allowing me mine own ways, and indulging me a good deal, without any charge for my living. They have a large lot near us, on which they purpose building a large business house for renting."(36)

Milton Wright mentions in his diary entry of April 21, 1912, "Afternoon, I looked up the Boyd lot & walked up to the Lorenze lot. Rode home on Street cars."  Then September 7, writes, "The brick work of Orville's 'Boyd' house is nearly completed." October 2, Milton wrote, "At home, except a look at Orville's Business House, in the afternoon, when Kath & Agnes Beck were there." 

In a letter dated October 28 to grand niece Grace, he wrote speaking of Orville, "His business house on Third street is being finished off. (Then speaking of the Hawthorn Hill lot in Oakwood)- He has the hill on his lot leveled off and is building the cement foundation for a house about seventy feet long and it is nicely planned for a two-story building. It is in a nice situation. He and Wilbur had planned these buildings before Wilbur's death.......Lorin is watching Orville's business building."(36)

Milton updates Grace in a November 7th letter, "Orville is finishing off his three-story business house on Third Street. He had the hill in Oakwood leveled off, and a cellar excavated and cement walls built. Now he has let the job of building a residence to a company here. It is to be completed in nine months. We have beautiful trees."

And in his diary entry February 17 of 1913, he wrote, "I visited Orville's new business house."

 The newly constructed Boyd Building unfortunately would experience the flood waters of March 1913. Milton wrote in his diary for March 27, 1913, "At least two-thirds of the City was submerged. A considerable part, there was water in the second story of buildings....Three or more fires broke out. One burned just west of Orville's office, several buildings.....Orville's automobile was submerged and injured several hundred dollars. In all he and the family lost one thousand dollars. Then his new building was injured nearly another thousand." (5) 

 

March 1913 Dayton Flood, damage at West Third Street near Broadway.(11)

 

In 1914, construction of a new building was completed on the lot immediately west of the Boyd Building. With an estimated cost of $30,000, the Mecca Theater would seat 500 for the display of moving picture shows.(31)

Mecca Theater just west of the Boyd Building. As pictured in the Steele Magnet, February 1915. (11)

Orville sold the Wright Company on October 15, 1915. He signed over the Wright patents on October 25, 1916. That same day, the deposit was made to his savings account at Winters National Bank in Dayton for the amount of $257,910.94, the equivalent of $7,022,912 today (2022).

In 1916, Orville financed construction for a single-story structure immediately north of the Boyd building at 15 North Broadway, the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory. In an October letter of that year, Orville wrote, "I am now putting up a small building to be used as an aeronautical laboratory. A three-foot wind tunnel will be installed. The measuring instruments, although not yet completely designed will be after the type of instruments we used in our tunnel of 1901-02....A ten horsepower motor should give a wind velocity in a tunnel of this size of over fifty miles an hour. I doubt, however, whether it will be practical to use such high velocities on account of the vibration to which the objects being measured will be subjected..."(3) 

NW corner of  West Third Street and Broadway, from Sanborn maps, 1918-32, Library of Congress. Mecca Theater at 1217 West Third; Boyd Building at 1201-1211, and Orville's Aeronautics Experimental Laboratory on Broadway behind the Boyd building. Note the residence at 1221 West Third. The Kender family lived here, and John Kender recalls some memories related later in this post. None of these buildings remain standing.

 

The Dayton Daily News December 17, 1916 issue, (13th anniversary of the Wright's 1903 flights), had a front page story "Orville Wright Experimenting to Utilize Unused Currents of Air", explaining that the inventor would be active in performing wind tunnel experiments at the new Laboratory. Orville "modestly declares his experiments are not extraordinary in character..".

 

Orville Wright's 1916 wind tunnel at the National Museum of The United States Air Force. "This wind tunnel was designed by Orville Wright in 1916 and installed at 15 N. Broadway in Dayton, Ohio. He used this tunnel to conduct various aerodynamic experiments during the World War 1 period. In July 1918, Orville wrote to a friend, 'I have lately put up a small tunnel in my laboratory in which we have a wind velocity of over 160 miles an hour.' The wind tunnel is on loan from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio." (12) Photo by author, June, 2021. Author's wife poses for size comparison of this "small" wind tunnel.

 

By December of 1917, Orville Wright was involved with the design of a guided missile, a weapon intended to be utilized in WWI. As told by John Wright, "...this device...was supposed to dump explosives in Germany at any selected point to which it was aimed. Mr. Wright was consulting engineer of the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company and a good friend of Mr. Kettering's and Mr. Kettering asked him to design the airplane for this particular device...the device was supposed to strike a target, at a range which was almost exactly the longest uninterrupted flight that had ever been made in an airplane. So problems arose, problems to which there was no answers either in books or anywhere else. And as a result, a lot of test work on the control and guidance system of this device was done in the wind tunnel in Mr. Wright's laboratory on Broadway. It was one of the few wind tunnels in existence at that particular time. And of course, Mr. Wright was very much interested in the work, that is advice, his help where-ever he could. And for a period of about a year, we was in and out of that place almost every day....The explosive was in the fuselage, that was a rather interesting device. I said Mr. Wright designed the air frame he did, but Dayton-Wright Airplane Company worked out some very unique manufacturing schemes to build it. It was a very nice little aircraft. It had a wing span of about thirteen feet. It was about ten feet long. But it was designed to use up all the scraps of the spruce wood that they couldn't use for making DH airplanes at Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, because in those days, all aircraft was built of wood.....The wings were covered with paper, the fuselage was a cylinder of cardboard impregnated with rosin, about five feet long. The tail section was a cone of cardboard, and it was so designed that it could be put together very quickly....The explosive was in the lower half of the fuselage and the control guidance mechanism was right above it. And it was so designed that when it reached its range, the mechanism operated a latch that released the wings, the wings just folded up the device, the wings folded away and then the fuselage with its engine, became a free falling bomb."(34)

 

The Kettering Bug, a guided missile, 1918, at McCook Field; designed for use in WW1, but never used as the war ended before it was deployed. Approximately fifty were produced. Photo courtesy of National Museum of the United States Air Force.

On November 27, 1919, Orville sold both the Lab building and the Boyd building for $70,000 to F. W. Gruen and F. A. Wagner. (6) The Boyd building was resold, along with several residential properties in May of 1924.(7) Then, in October of 1925, the Boyd and Lab buildings were purchased for $100,000 by Jerrold W. Sindell.(8) The Boyd and Lab building again sold May 26th of 1943.(9) With each sale, Orville continued to occupy 15 North Broadway, renting from the new owners.

The Wright Brother's Boyd building at northwest corner of North Broadway and West Third Streets, with 15 North Broadway Laboratory in background. As published in The Dayton Herald, October 30, 1925.

Another view of the Wright Brother's Boyd building at northwest corner of North Broadway and West Third Streets, with 15 North Broadway Laboratory in background. As published in The Dayton Daily News, October 30, 1925.

Of the many visitor's to the Laboratory, James Madison Harris Jacobs was one who had a long working relationship with the Wright Brothers. James had worked at the Barney & Smith Car Company, involved with the inlaid woodwork of the railroad passenger cars in the early 1900's. Orville's friend Edwin Sines also worked at Barney & Smith during this time frame. James left Barney & Smith to work for Wilbur and Orville in the production of aeroplanes. After the Wright Company was sold in 1915, James eventually joined the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company.  James and wife Ruth raised 5 sons and one daughter. In 1918, they named their third son James Wilbur Jacobs, followed in 1919 with their fourth son, whom they named Orville Wright Jacobs. James Wilbur Jacobs was interviewed March 4, 1967, one of many interviews conducted during the Wright Brothers- Charles F. Kettering Oral History Project, from the University of Dayton Archives and Special Collections. James shared his memories of his father, and of Orville Wright, including time spent at Orville's laboratory, "The first time I remember Orville Wright, was when I was about six years old. And this was in 1924 when the national air races were held in Dayton, at Wilbur Wright Field which is now the Harrison field portion of Wright and Patterson Field...I remember my father helping Orville put the first Wright airplane together, and it was taken out and put in a hangar at Wilbur Wright Field for public display."

 

Display of 1903 Wright Flyer at the 1924 International Air Races at Wilbur Wright Field.

"....here they had the airplane out for public display and I remember them having a rope around it. And I crawled underneath the rope and into the plane, and of course, subsequently chased out by my father, and Orville Wright. But this was about the first time I recall meeting Orville.......he and my father, jointly developed the landing flap for airplanes....it is often called the split trailing edge of the landing flap, so Orville Wright and my father jointly obtained a patent on this thing....It was developed on paper as a concept and then my uncle tells the story of my father making models of this first, models for wind tunnel work...And when my father reported to Orville the results of the initial tests....Orville was stunned because the results are far beyond what they expected. And so he asked my father to bring the wind tunnel model over to the laboratory. And there the tests were run again and confirmed the fact that these landing flaps would be a very valuable asset to the future airplane....."

 

Orville Wright holding a model of the first split-flap plane. The Dayton Journal, January 31, 1948.(11)

James continued, "In the 1930's when I started to go to school, Steele High School. And one of my favorite ways of going to school was to go down Broadway; we lived on Grand Avenue in those days. Going down Broadway, past Orville Wright's laboratory, turning east on Third Street and going downtown to school.....I can remember passing his laboratory many, many times and seeing Orville in the window, sitting at his desk, busily occupied with reading, writing or dictating to his secretary who was Miss Mabel Beck...And I often wanted I think inwardly to stop and go into the laboratory and talk to him. I think I did it once, but I'm not real sure of this. But I was probably a little bashful then. I was more impressed with his brand new 1930 or '33 Hudson Terraplane, which he had in front of his place....And I was always impressed by the fact his license plate was OW-1......"

 

Orville Wright and Hudson Terraplane. Courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives.

 

"So in about 1928....my father, Miss Beck...and Orville Wright put the first airplane back together. They recovered the airplane....and this is the next time I can remember, in detail, being in the Broadway laboratory. And seeing the airplane being assembled, I used to go with my father every evening, and they'd put the airplane together. When they had it all together, I remember my father, who was quite a camera fan at the time, getting his flash out and taking a series of flash pictures of the Wright airplane just sitting in the laboratory. Orville was there, and I always had a feeling that Orville had a sense of, in his own mind, a sense of admiration for this airplane, and a sense of feeling that this was part of his life. But he never openly expressed this in any way..... Then he disassembled it and boxed it up and shipped it to England. This was Orville's answer to the Smithsonian." James father had also assisted Orville with the restoration of the 1903 Flyer for the first display in 1916 at MIT, the 1924 display at the International Air Show, and other displays of the Flyer prior to sending it to England. Mabel Beck assisted with sewing of the wing fabric.

Orville's grandnephew Wilkinson Wright recalled "I can remember just very faintly....this probably was in 1927 (more likely 1928), but one evening after supper the whole family went out to the laboratory on Broadway and he had the plane, the first plane set up there in the shop. He had had it recovered, the wing fabric recovered, and he was getting ready to have it unpacked and sent to England, and he asked the family if they wanted to come over and see it before it went out. I can just faintly picture in my mind seeing that thing. That shop was always sort of black and dark, and I can remember seeing this very light....the wings, these big.....sitting there in those surroundings."(32)

Photo of 1903 Wright Flyer taken in 1928 on floor of Orville Wright's Aeronautical Laboratory near center of south wall. Courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives.

Another visitor to 15 North Broadway was a sketch artist with the New York Times, Oscar Cesare, who visited Orville Wright in November of 1924. In an article he wrote in February of 1925 of the visit, he said, "In the front is his study; the anteroom across the hall is occupied by a very silent woman, his secretary. In the hall to greet you is an autographed portrait of Count Zeppelin. The walls of the office are hung with photographs of early flights of the Wright brothers. Orville Wright's study also has a few photographs adorning the walls, a roll-top desk, a drafting table and a cabinet, or chest of drawers. The windows look out upon a typical street of a mid-western town, where residences and small shops mingle."

Orville Wright's office, "a roll top desk, a drafting table...windows that look out on a typical street of a mid-western town...." Photo courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives.

Orville sitting at his side work table in his 15 N Broadway office, November 17, 1943. One historian has labeled this picture as Orville "tinkering with a clock mechanism". The author of this post believes Orville was doing much more than "tinkering". Compare this mechanism to Orville's 1944 Cypher machine shown later in this post.

 

Orville Wright's bookshelves, and flat file "chest of drawers". Oscar Cesare wrote after a visit in 1927, "Orville Wright sits at a roll-topped desk; back of his desk stands a draftsman's table; in one corner is a bookcase filled with all available books on flying and its history. There is the Michelin Flight Trophy won in France....a photograph of De lambert, the Frenchman so highly esteemed by the Wrights...another of the monument at Le Mans commemorating the Wright's flights there."(27) Photo courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives.

Oscar Cesare continued, "The photographs on the walls furnished an easy and natural peg upon to hang an introduction, to approach the subject dearest to him- the early days of Wright and his brother. His reserve melts into a subdued enthusiasm, approaching eagerness, but never a touch of boasting creeps in, as  he explains the various types of machines. He even seems reluctant in correcting some error you have made as to dates and events in which the brothers figured. Orville Wright is quite unconscious of his greatness and is as unassuming as the day he mended a bicycle long ago in Dayton in the same shop which later sheltered the cradle of aviation. In fact, he shrinks from the public stare and rather makes you feel that you are the person of importance. He is hesitant in speech, almost grave in his movements, though kindliness and quiet humor are blended with keen insight......"

 

Life study drawing of Orville Wright by Oscar Cesare, November 1924.(11)

"When I asked if the first machine was still in existence, Mr. Wright said it had been packed up after being exhibited at the Dayton meet in October and was back in the workshop. Orville led the way down the short flight of steps and we came into the shrine of Dayton. It is a room with windows on both sides; in the middle, near the door, is the wind-tunnel, a long wooden box-like affair.

At the window on one side runs a work-bench with a jumble of tools that a mechanic and a joiner use. But the shop has an air of disuse, of the day's work done...."

 

Orville Wright's Lab. From Wright State University The Guardian, January 10, 1977 issue.

"There were two large crates with Orville Wright's name painted on them and two smaller boxes. The large crates contained the wings of the first machine, the smaller boxes the engines of the first and third airplanes. Orville Wright found a screwdriver and patiently opened the box containing the first engine to carry man in sustained flight. There it was, the single steel heart from which man was to take courage and fashion after. Orville Wright stepped back and gazed at it, wistfully it seemed, not proudly. It occurred to me as I looked at him that sorrow must have laid her wreath beside the palm of victory. "We used it only once," he said at length, "that is, in the trials of 1903. On the first attempt, with Wilbur at the controls, we damaged the plane without getting it off the ground. On the second attempt, some days later, I flew about 120 feet, or about 10 (12) seconds." (This was the first actual flight on Dec. 17).

 

Orville's first flight, December 17, 1903.(11)

"Wilbur made the next, a second longer (12 seconds). Then I the third, of twelve (15) seconds. The fourth Wilbur made and it lasted fifty-six (59) seconds or about 850 (852) feet. The tendency was toward over-control and the flights were very uneven......We had studied gliders of every kind....We had practiced for three years, centering our efforts at balancing and to gain control and projective stability, until we finally gained enough dynamic control to warrant installing motive power. The difficulty now was to find an engine at the same time light and powerful. We made this one ourselves."

It was an unforgettable sight to see the "first man to fly," still alive, stand before this creation of his which carried him, and with him mankind, into a new era on which the curtain has barely been raised. That Orville Wright is still pondering the problem of flight is apparent when one sees the charts and diagrams on his drafting board. But Orville Wright has other moods, lighter ones. My eye fell on a small brightly colored figure lying on a wire spring, which when touched would hurl the figure through space to catch a horizontal bar a foot away with its outstretched hooked arms. Orville Wright laughed like a boy as he said that he had made the thing almost infallible. It would, spinning, strike the bar almost every time. It was an amusing and fascinating gamble, but I afterward wondered if Orville Wright was- just playing."(13)

 Oscar Cesare was describing "Flips and Flops", a game perfected by Orville just that year, and patented in January of 1925. Flips and Flops was sold through Orville's brother Lorin's toy company, The Miami Wood Specialty Company. Below is a video of the author's grandson launching the "small brightly colored figure lying on a wire spring". For more on The Miami Wood Specialty Company, see the post "The Miami Wood Specialty and Wright-Dayton Companies".

Author's best approximation of the floor plan of the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory. Orville Wright's office and building perimeter is drawn based on photographs. From descriptions of those who visited Orville, there existed a small vestibule upon entering the building, a waiting room, Orville's office/ study area, Mabel Beck's office, and the rear Lab area. How these spaces were arranged is simply guessed at in this floor plan. A 12' by 12' carpet, and a 12' by 5' carpet were listed in the inventory of items retrieved from the lab. The waiting room is shown as roughly 12' by 12', and Mabel's office as roughly 12' by 5'.  The stairs leading to the open rear lab space may be misplaced, simply the best guess of the Author. A shallow attic for storage was above the front office areas. The boiler was located in the basement; basement access location not shown. Assumed 2 small restrooms. I've shown the wind tunnel within it's own room which would have had to be build around it in place. From Oscar Cesare's description, likely the wind tunnel was simply out in the open space. (14)

Just west of the Mecca Theater, the Kender family lived at 1221 West Third. The home appears on the Sanborn map shown earlier in this post. John Kender was interviewed by William Hershey of the Dayton Daily News in July of 1974.(35) William wrote, "John Kender is not really that old, only 61. It's just that he and his house constitute a slice of Dayton's history. The area around the house is now surrounded by cut-rate furniture stores, a store front church and other businesses which weren't there when the Kender family moved in after the 1913 flood.......The appraised value of the house and land is $14,810, according to the Montgomery county auditor's office. Kender says he'll be lucky to get $7000 for it. Kender's woes only keep him down temporarily. He likes to talk about the way the neighborhood used to be, when he was growing up and his neighbors were aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. The old Wright laboratory at 15 N. Broadway St is just down the alley at the rear of Kender's house. Kender didn't get along so well with Orville Wright. 'Orville.....he, in other words was a mean one. He wasn't sociable at all. Wilbur, he loved children,' Kender recalled." (Obviously there is a problem with this account, as Wilbur Wright died in 1912, a year prior to when the Kender's moved to 1221 West Third. John Kender, if 61 years old in 1974, wasn't born till after Wilbur's death. John is remembering Orville's brother Lorin Wright, and mistaking him for Wilbur Wright!) The article continues, "Wilbur used to give me some propellers. Every time he'd see me coming to the side door by the alley, he'd say, 'Here, towhead, take these (small, balsam propellers) home', Kender recalled." (Lorin Wright's toy company "The Miami Wood Specialty Company" manufactured balsa wood Wright flyers beginning in the mid 1920's. Kender was remembering Lorin Wright passing on some free samples. These memories likely occurred in the mid-20s when John was 10 or 11 years old. John's memory of Orville Wright wasn't favorable, but other youth in the area had positive memories, which will be shared later in this post.)

 A December 1933 Dayton Herald news article described items displayed within 15 North Broadway, "The Washington award, a bronze plaque, given by the Western Society of Engineers, stands side by side with a French medal and a miniature of the federal memorial at Kitty Hawk. There is also the silvered shovel which was used to turn the first earth at the erection of Kitty Hawk memorial, which Capt. William J. Tate brought north with him last spring." (15) On May 8, 1933, William Tate had presented the shovel to Orville during a dinner at the Engineer's Club in Dayton. Tate stated, "I built up a wholesome respect and human love for the Wright boys.....They brought us some precepts never known in our section, notably that of sticking to a job until it was accomplished, and my life has been profoundly influenced by my association with them."(10)

 

Orville Wright receiving the silver plated ground breaking shovel from Captain William Tate, as published in The Dayton Herald, May 9, 1933.

The December 1933 Dayton Herald article continued, "Several pictures show interesting incidents in the early lives of the brothers. One shows the N.C.R. schoolhouse crowded on the occasion of the 20th anniversary, at which a beautiful bronze medal was bestowed. One interesting picture shows Orville and Wilbur on the steps of their former home on Hawthorne street."

 

Courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives, June, 1909.

 

"The picture of the first flight is framed, also a later model plane soaring above the heads of some frightened horses, while another frame holds a picture of the statue at Le Mans, France. Another has Orville and Wilbur silhouetted. A small model monoplane dangles from the electric light fixture, but the most interesting thing, perhaps, is a large cartoon drawn in 1909 by the late Homer Davenport and inscribed to Katharine Wright. It shows Uncle Sam with his hands proudly resting on the shoulders of Orville and Wilbur and the inscription reads: "To the sister of the men who have won the admiration of all of us, even the birds of the air." The birds are shown fluttering in the wake of Uncle Sam."(15)

 

Courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives, 1909, attributed to Homer Davenport.

 

In a Cincinnati Enquirer 1938 interview account, a description of the reception area was given, "His blue eyes twinkled reflectively in the light pouring through the big window in his laboratory reception room as he recalled the pioneer venture into the air.....As he interrupted his laboratory routine to grant one of his rare interviews in his scantily furnished reception room, its white plastered walls bare except for a few framed photographs... In his unmarked brick laboratory on Dayton's west side only a city block or so from the site of the bicycle shop where he and his brother conducted their pioneer aerodynamics experiments, Wright continues to work "10 hours a day." " (16)                                      

Another of the residents in Dayton shared his memories of when he was 16 years old, of meeting Orville Wright. John T. Gojack delivered newspapers as a young boy on the West Side.  John's mother Elizabeth had died in October of 1920 when John was just 4 years old. His father was left to raise John and John's three sisters and two brothers, at that time ranging from 1.5 years old to 11 years old. Years later, in 1932, John's 19 year old sister Pauline and 21 year old sister Catherine  rented an apartment at 25 N. Broadway, immediately north of Orville's Lab. Between the Laboratory and the house was an alley where Orville would park his car. The following account is from the August 3, 1991 issue of the Dayton Daily News:

"In the late 20's, the Hungarian community on Dayton's West Side gossiped about Orville Wright's mysterious research work. He spent most days in a laboratory just north of the Broadway and Third Street corner. My father and I lived on North Summit Street (now Paul Lawrence Dunbar) in the first house across the Wolf Creek bridge (513 N Summit).....As a young boy, my interest in Orville and Wilbur Wright began in a newspaper office in back of their (former) bike shop. The building was located on West Third Street, between Williams and Broadway streets. At that time there was a barber shop in front, and we paper boys picked up our papers at the rear of the building....."

 

 

Looking west 100 years ago on West Third Street from intersection of Williams Street, 1921. The 2-story Gunkel Building is to the right, and working west, the 3-story Gunkel Block, and Webbert Flats. An additional 3-story building, and then the 2-story Webbert building that housed the Wright Cycle Shop. About the location of the vehicles in the road in the distance is the intersection of Broadway and West Third, location of the Boyd Building. A right turn onto Broadway would take one to Orville's Laboratory.(17)

 

"Orville Wright parked his car in an alley next to his lab, which was half a block west of the (former) bike shop. My sisters had an apartment next to this alley. From their front porch they could touch Orville Wright's big car."

 

 

Orville Wright's laboratory at 15 N Broadway, Dayton, Ohio, around 1927-1930, Courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections and Archives. Between the laboratory and the home just to the north (25 N Broadway where John Gojack's sisters had their apartment), was an alley where Orville would park his car. A set of double doors on this north side allowed entrance to the rear laboratory area. The front entrance faced east.

 

 

John continued,  "One warm September day I did not go home after school. Passing up study and chores, I walked down to my sister's apartment. My sister, Pauline Jenkins, who still lives in Dayton, worked at Pyles & Blum Deli, (1119 W Third) two doors (east) from the (former) Wright bike shop. She would soon be home and most likely have goodies for me, not available at my house. While sitting on their porch reading a book, I spotted Mr. Wright heading for his car. I had noticed it was dirty. Dropping the book, I rushed over and asked Mr. Wright if I could wash his car. He smiled and asked if I had washed cars before. Confessing that I hadn't, I outlined my experience as a caddy and newspaper boy. In my enthusiasm, I told him of selling 167 copies of an extra edition (May, 1927) when Lindbergh flew non-stop to Paris. I pointed to the corner of Third and Broadway where I yelled out the headline of Lindy's great flight. I was a skinny kid, barely 12, and had to run back to the (former) bike shop for more papers. It seemed to me that hustling the Lindbergh flight extras was my best credential."

 

 

The Dayton Herald, May 21, 1927 Night Extra, "Lindbergh is Reported Off Plymouth, England"

 

"Mr. Wright asked the charge for a first-class car wash. I said he could decide what the job was worth. He suggested 4 p.m. the next day. Pauline loaned me a bucket and enough rags to wash a truck fleet. I started at 3:30, washed the car twice, and some dirty spots three or four times. The rags and bucket were put away and the puddles almost dry when Orville Wright came out of his lab for the day. After a brief inspection he patted me on the back, praise the job, and asked if 50 cents would be fair. Caddying for 18 holes paid 50 cents and took three or four hours. A two-hour car wash for the same pay was a real promotion. I asked when I could wash his car again. He offered a "contract" for 50 cents every other week, and more often if the car got muddy. I shook his hand and agreed to the "contract". Not knowing what the word "contract" meant, I bragged to everyone that Orville Wright and I had a "contract". This made me a hero in the neighborhood and at school. Pride almost popped the buttons off my shirt......" (18) John Gojack died May 10, 2000 at the age of 83. Thanks for sharing the story John.

Charles Lindbergh had visited Orville Wright in June of 1927, and stopped by 15 North Broadway to view the 1903 Wright Flyer. Later that same day, Oscar Cesare again visited the Lab to sketch another portrait of Orville to be published in the New York Times on July 17th. (10) Oscar wrote of Orville, "He asked his visitor if he cared to see the first Kitty Hawk machine. It was back in the workshop being assembled. We walked through the door at the back and into the...long room, flanked on both sides by windows through which the sun poured in on the white gleaming wings.....Here and there were lathes and other machinery and work benches, the packing cases....A motor used in a later model stood in one corner. The wind tunnel had been removed to afford space for this first love. On shelves were an assortment of boxes of odd sizes- boxes containing numberless wing models tried in their experiment in the wind tunnel..." (27)

Another former West Side resident shared his memories of Orville Wright with Dale Huffman in 2003. John Wohlslagel, 86 at the time of the interview, told of his part-time employment at a tailor and dry cleaning business as a teenager back in the mid-1930's. The shop, Stathes Gust Clothes, Presser, and Cleaner, was located at 1211 West Third street, in the Boyd Building. Orville Wright would leave his office at around 3:30 each afternoon, and walk the short distance south to get his shoes shined. John recalled, "He was always dressed immaculately....He always looked carefully all over his shoes to see it they were shined properly. He checked to see if there were dull spots. When he got down from the stand I would brush his clothes with a whisk broom." Dale wrote that "John Wohlslagel says he remains in awe of the distinguished man in the three-pieced suit who quietly watched as he flipped a cloth on his shoes all those years ago." The price of the shoe shine was 10 cents, and John was always tipped a nickel by Orville. (30)

As reported in The Herald in January of 1934, based on a Popular Science article, Orville had assisted in the study of aerodynamics of automobile design, with the account given as following, "This knowledge of air currents led to experiments conducted under the supervision of Orville Wright in his laboratory on North Broadway...and is responsible to a large degree for the radical designs being shown at this time by several of the prominent motor car manufacturers.......in the summer of 1927 engineers...decided to start from scratch and learn for themselves all they could about air pressure and a moving body. To do this they enlisted the aid of Orville Wright who helped them build an inexpensive wind tunnel such as he and his brother, Wilbur, had used when they invented the airplane. The tunnel was set up in a locked room in the Wright laboratory in a space hardly more than 20 feet square and the problems of securing minimum air resistance in a moving vehicle were worked out." 

 

Room to left in photo above, constructed within Orville's laboratory open area, possibly similar to controlled space constructed for the wind tunnel experiments.

The report continued, "The workers are said to have carved small wooden blocks into every imaginable shape. They mounted these on ball bearing rollers and placed them on metal tracks in the blast of the wind tunnel. A cord ran from each block over a pulley to a weight resting on a simple post office type scale placed on the floor. As the air resistance drove the block back, the cord lifted more and more of the weight from the scales. Thus the experimenters could easily determine the resistance of any given block in ounces simply by subtracting the reading when the cord was pulling from the reading when it was relaxed and not under strain. Surprising discoveries sprang up immediately. So far as efficiency in the matter of wind resistance is concerned, the engineers found all the cars in the world were running backwards. If they were turned end for end on their chassis with the blunt end facing forward and the narrow hood behind, it was found the air would offer far less resistance to their passage.....In many of the tests made in the Wright laboratory, the same blocks were altered slightly and the differences in resistance noted. Each variation left its record on the data sheets. Streamers of silk were added to the tunnel equipment. As long as the air flowed smoothly they stretched out straight as pencils. But when they struck disturbed currents, they vibrated violently, permitting the engineers to study the exact location and extent of the various swirls. Smoke streamers gave additional information about what happened to the currents and finally the air was made to write its own record through an arrangement of metal plates and lampblack. Block models were bisected fore and aft vertically and the two halves clamped together with an upright plate between them. The plate was heavily coated with a mixture of lampblack and linseed oil. At the end of the test the wind had carved its record on the plate. Where the velocity was greatest, the metal was bare, all the coating having been carried away. A careful comparison of the amount of lampblack remaining on different parts of the plate gave a complete picture of how the currents had acted in passing over the block." (19)

 

Henry Ford and Orville Wright in front of 15 North Broadway in October of 1936; photo courtesy of The Henry Ford, Benson Ford Research Center Wright Brothers collection.

 

John Walter Wood, author of "Airports, Some Elements of Design and Future Developments", met Orville Wright at his laboratory on February 15, 1940. From his handwritten notes in possession of this author, he wrote, "Arrived this morning on train from Cincinnati and went to Orville Wright's office, 15 North Broadway, at 10:45 am. The front door of the small one story brick faced building was open. On the wall of the tiny vestibule were 3 framed photographs of the Wright memorial at Kitty Hawk. Orville Wright's secretary Miss Mabel Beck opened the unlocked door of the small waiting room. On the corner of the table nearest the door I was surprised to see a letter addressed to me, c/o Mr. Orville Wright, in Suzanne's handwriting (John's wife). I was opening the letter when Orville Wright came in. He shook my hands cordially and smiled as I drew a Valentine out of the envelope.......His secretary Mabel Beck had left and Orville took me to his small office across the hall, with small (drafting) table in corner, and took down a wooden box in which was a metal lateral airplane- stabilizer model of 1916 with pendulum mechanism which was to be used to automatically correct the right and left (aileron) which shows the basic principles of the idea. A small rectangular metal blade rotating on a horizontal axis slows the almost imperceptible swing of the "pendulum". Then going back to his office to a workshop he brought out the 1906 model of the lateral plane- stabilizer. Instead of the blade mechanism it has two metal discs rotating on each other but he explained that due to varying viscosity of the oil between the discs it did not work as well or as evenly......I noticed a copy of "L'itistour de L'Aeronautique" published by L'illustration on table in waiting room. He said he thought its accounts of early flying pretty accurate......"

Ink rendering of Orville Wright's automatic stabilizer, January 26, 1914.(11)

Lorin Wright's grandson Wilkinson Wright was interviewed by Ann Deines (Honious), and said, " Orville was always a very busy man. He had this ingrained work ethic, I guess you'd call it. He went six days a week to his laboratory at 15 North Broadway, and he carried on an extensive correspondence. People often wrote to him with questions about his experiences, aviation and so on, and he knew many people all over the United States, people all over the world really......Lorin lived at that time on Grand Avenue, 1224 Grand Avenue, and so he was right off.....a couple blocks off of Broadway, and he'd just drive down Broadway and visit there. Or Orville quite often, maybe before he went home for lunch, would stop by and visit Lorin....He worked on anything that suited his fancy. I remember he was working on an automatic transmission for an automobile. During the war he was working on a code typewriter that was supposed to have a million different combinations in it, something like that." 

Orville's cypher machine is currently in possession of  The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA. The portion of Orville's estate that transferred to the Institute include, "the original wind tunnel apparatus, model airfoils, test data and drawings of their early airplanes....airfoil models tested at McCook Field during 1919, 1920, and 1921 as well as some of Orville Wright's experimental aviation devices with which he worked during his lifetime. These include a shaper and cutters to prepare wax airfoil models, a special scale, smoke apparatus for wind tunnel use, a bank indicator, an incidence indicator, automatic control devices for wind tunnel and airplane control, an automatic landing device, and a cypher machine."(20) According to the Smithsonian, the cypher machine was designed and constructed by Orville in 1944.
 

Orville Wright's 1944 prototype Cypher machine, courtesy of The Franklin Institute Archives.

 

Wilkinson continued, "Earlier on, this was long before there was anything on the market, he had made his own record changer. He had a big, big cabinet thing at home that had a radio and record player in it, and then he had made his own record changer, and it had this mechanical arm that would go in. He had a series of slots or shelves that the records went in, and the arm would reach in, pick a record out and put it on the turntable. And of course one time, you've probably read this somewhere, but one time he went my my aunt's house and he came by our house wanting to know if we had any old records, because at the time it was throwing them out on the floor......he would also work on a potato peeler, a mechanical potato peeler. He was probably trying to find a labor-saving device for when he went to Georgian Bay."

 

Lorin's grandson Milton Wright was interviewed in September 26, 2000 by Ann Deines (Honious). Milton, who was 80 at this time, shared the following about Orville- "He had a lab in Dayton where he experimented with various things, and little wing foils and things used in their experiments would be sitting around the office. The world's first wind tunnel used to apply to aviation was sitting there in the office. He would take us down in the shop and let us play with.....He had a lathe. We'd put things on the lathe and make things out of them. And just before the first plane was sent to England to....then the Kensington Museum, because of his argument with the Smithsonian, he assembled it in his lab there to see it all together. So I saw it then." Ann asked Milton what Orville did in his laboratory, and Milton responded, "I forget, he had a bunch of experiments. He made some revisions of things, I think, that were later incorporated on airplanes. He at one point was trying to make a record changer for his...You know they used to have the...There were no long-playing records, and he had a  record changer, and there was some lift in the thing, and every now and then one record would fly across the room, and he came around to the family getting old records to test until he got the thing worked out. But everything would be just sort of tailored to his uses. He had some kind of an aerial thing for radio reception there...."  

 

Orville Wright's record changer, photographed by Author in basement of  Orville's Hawthorn Hill home in Oakwood. The record changer is currently on display at Carillon Park.

Ann asked Milton about Orville's secretary Mabel Beck. Milton replied, "Orville Wright thought she was a fine secretary, and there were all kinds of rumors about what went on. I don't think much. She was not dearly loved by the rest of the family, putting it mildly. Carrie would call up my mother and say, "You won't guess what she did", my mother would call Aunt Ivonette and say, "You won't guess what she did," and then it would go round and round and round."

Wilkinson Wright said of Mabel Beck, "...Mabel Beck, of course, was there all that time, and she was a very unpleasant lady. She wasn't nice to anyone, even to Orville. I never understood that, but she was....She seemed to be very bitter and unpleasant lady, and she was always there. You had to go up a couple of steps to the front door, and you'd knock on the door and she would open the door about six inches and stand squarely in front of it to see who was there. She was guarding Orville I think more than he even wanted to be guarded....Early on I got a clue about her because my Grandfather Lorin was one of the gentlest, kindest, most courtly gentlemen in the world- lovely, lovely manners. And he was always, with ladies particularly, he would speak......He would say, "Good morning, Mabel, " or "Good afternoon, Mabel, "but he would step forward immediately, and she either had to get out of the way or get walked on. Because he had learned over the years that she would keep him waiting there outside and go ask Orville if it was all right for his brother to come in."

Wilkinson continued, "When Mabel wasn't there, and of course she wasn't there on Saturday, and when I went to the shop there I was usually with my grandfather. There was a double door that opened onto the alley and the shop in the back, and if Mabel wasn't there, Lorin would go around to that side door on the alley and take out his pocketknife and hammer on the door. And Orville would come and let him in and we would visit there."

 

Double doors on alley side of 15 North Broadway where Lorin Wright would access the rear laboratory on Saturday visits.

 

During a December 1943 Dayton Herald interview, the account included the following, "A visit to his laboratory, shortly before his departure for Washington, found him just returned from lunch, and fortunately not yet plunged into his workshop again. He brought out a working model of one of his newest inventions, in a field not allied with aviation, and explained in layman's terms some of the intricacies involved in its making. "I am a poor machinist," he laughed. "If I can get a thing to work in rough form, I am ready to turn it over then for somebody else to make. Once I find out that an idea will work, I lose interest in it and want to go on to something untried.".....A representative of the Griswold smoke tunnel in Connecticut recently came here to Dayton to consult with him about some of the early experiments with smoke tunnels here in his laboratory about 1919. "We used a fan from our regular wind tunnel, and actually at one time tried out tobacco smoke furnished by a man who sat there smoking and puffing it in, but it wasn't very successful. Later we tried a mixture of chemicals to provide the smoke, and it worked better. The Griswold people burned rotten wood to make smoke for the their larger tunnel. If the conditions are right the smoke will show little eddies and vortices in air currents over a wing surface which you would never suspect otherwise."(21)

 

 

The first ad above appeared in the May 26, 1943 want ads of the Dayton Herald. The second ad was listed in the November 4, 1943 Dayton Herald. Wouldn't it have been interesting to apply for the job, and come face to face with Orville Wright at his office at 15 North Broadway? Likely the work was for care of the yard at his Hawthorn Hill home in Oakwood.

 

 

 

15 North Broadway around 1945.

 

Lewis B. Rock, publisher of the Journal Herald, asked Orville Wright if he would be agreeable to the printing of a sketch of the 1903 Wright Flyer between the words Journal and Herald on the front page of the newspaper. Orville was pleased with the idea, but indicated that for his approval, the sketch would need to "be exact in the most minute detail." Ed Morris of the paper's art department worked for weeks on sketches until he was confident he had captured a true likeness of the Flyer. A visit was made to 15 North Broadway, only to be told by Orville that the sketch had numerous defects. Orville was "polite and kindly but he was firm", and so Ed returned to the drawing board. More sketches were produced, followed by trips to North Broadway, each with the same reaction from Orville. "Weeks elapsed". Finally, Ed believed he captured the true essence of the Flyer, and headed for the Laboratory. "...Miss Beck...told us he was out in the shop. She said he might be out there for quite some time and gave us permission to step over into the shop. At first we thought Miss Beck had made a mistake or that Mr. Wright had unexpectedly left. We seemed to be quite alone. Then one of us heard a noise under an automobile parked inside. Next we observed a pair of legs flailing around. Soon Orville Wright emerged from underneath. He wore a mechanic's overalls and jumper. His hands were greasy, his face was smeared. But he was smiling happily. 'I've just found out what was the matter with my car', he explained, 'and fixed it. Several mechanics have gone over it but none of them was able to get at the trouble. So I had to do it myself.' He invited us into the office where he removed the overalls and jumper and cleared the grease and grime off his face and hands. We showed him the new sketch. He took a good long look at it and began smiling. 'I think you've got it at last,' he said. 'Are you quite satisfied with it?' I asked. 'Yes, it is an admirable sketch and I shall be pleased to see it every morning on the front page of The Journal,' he answered. 'Do you like it well enough to autograph it?' I inquired. His answer was to reach across the desk for his pen. At the bottom of the sketch he wrote his name and date. As we headed back to the office, Morris, hugging that precious autographed sketch under his arm, said, 'I'm sure glad Mr. Wright had just found out what was wrong with his car when we arrived.' 'Yeah,', I replied, 'maybe that did help.' (22)"

 

 

As reported in the Dayton Herald, December 17, 1946, "Orville Wright spent the 43rd anniversary of the first successful flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk, N. C., today housecleaning his Dayton laboratory......he rolled up his sleeves and pitched into the cleanup job, which, he said, "has the whole laboratory in a turmoil." .....The only deviation from the morning routine today occurred when fire broke out in the insulation of the basement furnace, and the co-inventor of the airplane turned firefighter to extinguish it with a garden hose....In his smoke-filled ante room, Orville Wright sat down and talked for an hour....Although, in his own words, he is 'through with business', and has been for many years, Orville Wright works at mechanical inventions for the pure pleasure derived from seeing them operate. He has no plans to turn his devices over to manufacturers for exploitation- in fact, keeps no records of their construction and sometimes comes across a long-forgotten piece of apparatus without remembering what it was or why he built it. Wright, 75, and in apparent good health and in twinkling good humor, does not consider himself a mechanic. 'For that reason', he explained, 'my machines are simply made and lack the precision of a finished project. It's just a hobby with me to work out a problem and then lay it aside.' " (23)

The Dayton Daily News, also reporting that day of the 43rd anniversary, shared the exciting find that occurred earlier that month, on December 9th. "Mr. Wright said he had not seen the equipment since December 6, 1916, when he moved his laboratory to the N. Broadway site. 'Since the measuring instruments were rather delicate...I didn't want them carried in the moving van. So I had a man (his bother Lorin) carry them over in his arms from their storage place in our office at 1127 W Third st.....at the time the laboratory was not quite completed....Carpenters were still at work. As a result, in the general moving confusion, I didn't miss the balances at first. However, when I did start to look around I couldn't find them.' Mr. Wright said he had two conclusions to draw on. One, that the man (his brother Lorin) entrusted to carry the material might not have delivered it; or else it had been placed under some false flooring then being laid in the laboratory's attic. 'I promised myself...that when the time came to move from the present building I would first have that flooring torn up to see if my second hunch was true.'.......On Monday, Dec. 9, Mr. Wright engaged some workers to clear out 'quite a lot of junk' which had accumulated in the attic over the past years. As each piece was passed down it was examined by him. One of these pieces was an old metal Smith Premier typewriter cover. 'I was just about ready to toss it onto the junk pile...when i shook it. Something inside rattled and clanked. I opened the lid and there where the missing balances. One instrument was complete except for a section of a dial. Two pieces were missing from a second balance instrument. But the mechanism can easily be restored.' The equipment had already survived the Dayton's 1913 flood and suffered some rusting as a result of exposure to the flood waters. The discovery not only gave Mr. Wright the satisfaction of being able to replace an important 'missing link' in the chain of events leading up to the first flight- but also to check on his own memory. As to the latter, he explained that some 10 years ago a former laboratory worker in his shop- Charles Taylor- had built a replica of the mechanism from dimensions supplied by Mr. Wright from memory. Comparison of the two shows the Mr. Wright's memory served him well since they vary only in slight details. The mechanism which has been uncovered is a monument to the simplicity by which the Wright brothers made aviation history. Entirely of their own design this wind tunnel equipment was fashioned from such odds and ends as old hack saw blades and bearing guides made from common metal nuts.....Installing this equipment in their 16-inch wind tunnel the Wrights experimented with more than 100 different airfoil curvatures and shapes....The brothers verified their wind tunnel measurements by applying them to their 1902 glider at Kitty Hawk.(24)

 

 

 

Orville Wright at his 15 North Broadway Office, 1946, with 1902 Wind Tunnel balances.(11)

 

 

The Journal Herald reported on January 28th, 1948 that Orville had "collapsed shortly before 3pm yesterday in his laboratory at 15 North Broadway and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. It was the second collapse he suffered in four months. On Oct. 10, Wright was stricken on the steps of the National Cash Register administration building. He was taken to the hospital by Col. E. A. Deeds. An electrocardiograph taken at the time showed that Wright had a 'minor difficulty' of the heart, but Dr. Brower did not term it a heart attack. Dr. Brower said yesterdays' attack was similar in character but 'not as serious'. The physician said he believed Wright would be able to go home in 'about two days'. Miss Mabel Beck, Wright's secretary, was with him yesterday in his office. She said he lost consciousness for a brief period but recovered before being removed to the hospital..." Orville Wright died two days later. (25)

 

 

 

Gathering inventory of Orville Wright's Laboratory for removal, February 1948 as published in The Dayton Herald, February 20, 1948. The canoe that Wilbur Wright strapped to the Wright machine in 1909 at Governors' Island NY can be seen in this photo, retrieved from the attic over the front office area.

 

Co-Executor's of Orville's estate, Harold Miller and Harold Steeper, arranged to have the building emptied. As reported in the February 20th Dayton Herald, "Placed methodically about the room were several small lathes, drill presses and handsaws. Strangely enough the room gave up a sleek green canoe. It was found in an attic room at the front end of the building. Miller said today he believed the canoe was used by Wilbur Wright on an early plane trip over Hudson Bay territory....In addition to the machinery, workmen found two pontoons, a four-cylinder gasoline engine, several pictures and a number of short pipes believed to have been used in wind tunnel construction. From the office at the front end of the building, workmen carted away a rug, typewriter, desks and other equipment...." (28)

 

 

Display of Wilbur Wright's canoe from 1909 Hudson Fulton Flights, Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, Ohio.(26)

 

John, Mary, and Tom Alex were the current owners of 15 North Broadway, leasing it to Orville Wright until his death. John had owned the building since 1943. The building was emptied, and items moved to NCR. By March 1st, the building had been leased to Eric Hoerner, president of the Master Equipment corporation, for $200 a month.(29) 

 

Ivonette Wright Miller wrote in Wright Reminiscences, "The N.C.R. took pictures of the whole house at Hawthorn Hill, and of the laboratory at 15 North Broadway and supplied as many pictures to the family as they wanted. The N.C.R. offered their space for Uncle Orv's machinery and a room in the Conservancy for his office. What a power of strength they were! It was decided to move out at the Broadway Lab. Mabel Beck, after raising her price for services, saying she wouldn't work for the executors at the price she worked for Uncle Orv, was told she wouldn't be needed after the end of February. She was impossible to work with. A news item was released to the press that it was Uncle Orv's wish that the Kitty Hawk plane go to the National Museum, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. From the time the office was moved to the Conservancy, I was there nearly every day, going over the papers and relics to get all the information I could. One of the interesting things I found was the diary written by Wilbur in 1902 telling in detail about their experiments at Kitty Hawk with the glider."

 

 

Certain items moved to storage were later delivered to A. F. Greer as directed by Harold S. Miller. The June 21, 1948 list of items included one 10 HP General Electric Motor. The last known letter written by Orville Wright was dated January 24, 1948, written to the General Electric Company, "I have a 10-H.P. General Electric motor that I would like to sell. This motor was purchased in 1917 for use in my laboratory on a wind tunnel. I would estimate it had about 200 hours of running. I am quoting from the invoice of the General Electric Company of Schenectady of February 10, 1917: 1KT-322-10-10-720/685-220 V 60 cyc "B" motor 1186788 DRL-1891926 amps 28. Would you be interested in purchasing it or do you know of an interested purchaser?"

 

 

Harold S. Miller, Co-Executor of Orville Wright's Estate, partial list of equipment taken from 15 North Broadway Laboratory, June 21, 1948 with additional notes by Louis Christman.(11)

 

Mykle Williamson wrote in the Wright State University Guardian January 10, 1977 issue, "Although the old laboratory of pioneer aviator Orville Wright no longer stands at its familiar site at 15 North Broadway street in Dayton, the facade of the historically important structure has been acquired by Wright State and may someday be part of the University Library. The property, located just round the corner from where the famous Wright Brother's bicycle shop once stood, was purchased by the Standard Oil Company in 1971. Due to financial difficulties, Standard Oil was unable to erect a gas station on the lot, so the building remained- in disuse and disrepair. Several historical preservation groups became interested in moving the laboratory and restoring it to its original state, but found the project too  expensive to be practical. Most of the windows had been broken, the back portion had been damaged and the interior had been almost completely gutted. Standard Oil opted to destroy the structure last November. Wright State president Robert Kegerreis became interested in the structure...and worked out an arrangement to have the bricks and front door frame of the lab delivered to WSU without cost to the university. At this time, there are no real definite plans as to what will become of the pile of debris that was delivered to the University December 24th.....Dr. Kegerreis was interested in keeping at least a section of the last occupied space by the last surviving Wright brother. 'This building is a national historical landmark and the place where the last surviving brother spent the last 25 years of his life.' "

In 2003, the reproduction facade was constructed at 15 North Broadway. The original front facade bricks, windows, and door frame that were salvaged and delivered to Wright State University in December of 1977 could not be located for use in the project. Apparently sometime in the 25 years since the materials had been delivered to WSU, the artifacts had been mistaken for construction debris and had been removed to a landfill.

Some of the brick did survive, as they were utilized to construct a display case at the fourth floor level of the Wright State Dunbar Library in 1979. The display case is located just outside the entrance to the Special Collections and Archives and houses a bronze sculpture "The Coupe Michelin", given to Wilbur Wright in 1908. The sculpture had been willed to The Dayton Art Institute by Orville Wright. The WSU Wrightstater March/April 1979 issue reported, "The sculpture will rest on bricks which are also of historical significance. The bricks are from the since-demolished laboratory on Broadway Street in Dayton where Orville tried several experiments after Wilbur's death."

Wilbur Wright's 1908 Michelin Cup is displayed near the entry to the WSU Special Collections and Archives, 4th floor of the library, far right. Photo courtesy of WSU Special Collections and Archives.

 

 

Wilbur Wright's 1908 Michelin Cup on base constructed with bricks from Orville Wright's 15 North Broadway Laboratory; Dawne Dewey leading the tour. Photo courtesy of WSU Special Collections and Archives, from 2015 National Aviation Heritage Alliance Aviation Writers Summit tour.

Orville Wright leaning against Wilbur's 1908 Michelin Cup at 15 North Broadway. As published in The Dayton Herald, December 17, 1946.(23)

Also surviving to this day are the stained glass panels from the front door of the Wright Laboratory. The door glass panel and side lights glass and top transom glass still survive, but are privately owned. 

 

Front door and side light glass from 15 North Broadway, Wright Aeronautical Laboratory.

 

It is unfortunate that this building has been lost to Dayton. It could be rebuilt on the same site it stood for 60 years, if there was enough interest and finances to do so. Unknown to this author is the extent of any foundation remnants that may exist on site, as the lot has never had another structure since the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory was dismantled. Do the basement floor and walls exist under the soil? How completely was the site excavated at demolition? Were bricks and other discarded building materials filled into the basement cavity? Likely not, but an archeological dig at the site would be interesting. Perhaps what didn't interest Dayton in 1976 is now of interest 46 years later? A reproduction of the Laboratory could house a display of the 1903 Wright Flyer, partially assembled, under restoration for the first time since the flood of 1913. Perhaps Mabel Beck would block the front door once again such that visitors would only find entrance through the side double doors at the alley.

 

Copyright 2021-Getting the Story Wright

Photo of Mecca Theater from Steele Magnet added 12/23/23

Account of John Kender's memories of Orville and Lorin Wright added 1/21/24

Quotes from Milton Wright letters to Grace Frazier added 2/12/24, 3/6/24

1945 photo of 15 North Broadway added 10/21/24

Notes-

1. Benjamin Kline, "Facade planned of Wright's lab", Dayton Daily News July 24, 2003.   

2.  "U.S. lists Wright lab as 'historic'", The Journal Herald, May 10, 1973. 

3. Orville Wright to Elisha N. Fales, October 24, 1916, McFarland The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, volume 2, 1953.

4. Dayton Daily News, October 1, 1912, "Building Named After a Boyhood Friend" This short article states, "The new building under process of erection at Third and Broadway streets by Orville Wright, will be named the Boyd building, in honor of a boyhood friend of the builder. It is a six-story (actually 3-story) structure and is located on the site of the old Boyd residence."

5. Diaries 1857-1917 Bishop Milton Wright, Wright State University.

6. The Dayton Herald, November 28, 1919, "Complete Deal For Apartment and Laboratory"

7. The Dayton Daily News, May 26, 1924.

8. The Dayton Herald, October 30, 1925, "Wright's Shop Changes Hands In Large Deal- Real Estate Man Acquires Third and Broadway Property in $100,000 Transfer. Laboratory to Remain in Improvement Plans. Boyd Building Will be Replaced by One-Story Structure for Business Houses." This information as in error; the Boyd building was not to be demolished. The Dayton Daily News had the correct story that the intention was for the construction of a single-story building to be built between the Boyd and Lab buildings, October 30, 1925, "Building Used by Wright, Sold"

 9. The Dayton Herald, May 26, 1943, "Wright Laboratory Sold in $50,000 Property Deal"

10. The Dayton Herald, May 9, 1933, "Capt. Tate Tells Story of First Plane Flight, Orville Wright Presented With Shovel Used to Turn First Dirt for Memorial."

11. From Author's collection.

12. As described on The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force website, www.nationalmuseum.af.mil  

13. "With Orville Wright in his Workshop", by Oscar Cesare, The Miami News, February 22, 1925.

14. The building was heated with a Boiler which provided hot water to floor mounted radiators in the office areas and in lab. A chimney is visible just west of the double doors from the alley to the rear lab space. The boiler was likely located in the basement below the office area, with hot water piping extended over and up to radiators in the offices and lab. Perhaps original construction drawings exist of the building. Anyone with knowledge please offer comments. The open laboratory space in the rear contained a room at the southwest end. This or a similarly constructed room was likely for the controlled wind tunnel experiments. The larger 1916 wind tunnel perhaps was not positioned in a small room as shown, but the smaller wind tunnel for automotive aerodynamic research was located in a small room. Orville worked on his automobile in the lab area at least one time. He would have had to maneuver it  through the double doors at the alley. Photos show the lab to have a wood floor vs. slab on grade. I've assumed the basement area must have gone the full length of the building, designed with structural support sufficient for the weight of a vehicle.

15. "Around the Town", The Dayton Herald, December 22, 1933.

16. The Cincinnati Enquirer, December 18, 1938, "History in Air Repeating, Pioneer Pilot, Inventor, Says in Interview", by Lawrence Herron, City Editor of the Dayton Journal.

17. Photo as printed in The Dayton Herald, May 20, 1921.

18. Dayton Daily News, August 3, 1991, "Memories of Wrights don't wash away" by John T. Gojack.

19. The Herald, January 5, 1934, "Engineers Aided by Orville Wright in Developing New Streamline Auto, Early Problems Were Solved in City Workshop" Article written based on story in Popular Science magazine by Robert E. Martin. 

20. The Franklin Institute, The Wright Brother's Aeronautical Engineering Collection at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA., by Ralph H. McClarren, 1951.

21. The Dayton Herald, December 12, 1943, "Sees Future of Aviation in Trade, Commerce", by Alexander McSurely. 

22. The Dayton Journal Herald, February 7, 1948, "An Orville Wright Story" by D.E.Y.

23. The Dayton Herald, December 17, 1946, "Orville Wright 'Cleans House' on Flight Anniversary", by Lew Rock, Jr.

24. Dayton Daily News, December 17, 1946, "Orville Wright, Observing Anniversary of First Flight, Finds Mechanism Used Before Kitty Hawk", by Herbert Shaw.

25. The Journal Herald, January 28, 1948, "Orville Wright Is Recovering After Collapse"

26. Photo by author. 

27. The Yonkers Herald, July 23, 1927, "The First Man to Fly Discusses Future of Aviation and Recalls The Past", by Oscar Cesare.

28. The Dayton Herald, February 20, 1948, "Historic Articles Moved, Dismantling of Wright's Laboratory Begins"

29. The Dayton Herald, March 1, 1948, "Wright's Lab Building Leased"

30. The Dayton Daily News, July 19, 2003, "He made Orville's shoes shine", by Dale Huffman, Centennial Celebration Stories.

31. I had originally incorrectly identified this theater as The Apollo, based on a Dayton Evening Herald December 5, 1913 rendering and caption titled "Fine Picture Theater for the West Side". The caption stated "..to be erected on west Third street next to Orville Wright's apartment building....the theater will be called the Apollo and will cost between $18,000 and $20,000...." The name didn't sound right, and I've since corrected it as The Mecca Theater. Per Dayton Daily News, August 23, 1914, "West Dayton's New $30,000 Picture Theater", the Mecca is "located on the north side of Third street, just west of Broadway". Grand opening was August 26, 1914.

32. Ann Deines (Honious) interview with Wilkinson Wright, 1996.

33. Fred Fisk and Marlin Todd, authors of the excellent book "The Wright Brothers from Bicycle to Biplane", published a sharp photo of the Boyd building, taken by Marlin Todd. The caption under the photo includes information that could use some clarification. As published, it reads, "The Boyd building was built and owned by Wilbur and Orville Wright. The brothers purchased a house at the corner of West Third and Broadway Streets in Dayton, Ohio on May 21, 1909. They contracted in 1910 to have a three story building built on this location with apartments above and storerooms below to rent to businesses. Their brother Lorin Wright planned and supervised the construction. When Wilbur died on May 30th, 1912, the building and property was willed to Orville Wright...."  Construction  of the Boyd building did not begin in 1910, as the Boyd family continued to live in the home on the property through 1911. Construction of the building is mentioned in the Dayton Daily News October 1, 1912 as "under process of erection". Construction completion was earlier than December 21, 1912, as this was advertised as the grand opening date of at least one tenant, The Gem City Flower Shop. Wilbur didn't live to see the completion of the Boyd building. I am not aware of the ground breaking date of the project. The 1911-12 Dayton Directory list the Boyd family living at 1207 W Third, the 1912-13 Directory indicates they had moved to a new address, and the 1913-14 Directory lists the Boyd Building for the first time, at 3rd and Broadway.

34. Interview with John Wright by Susan Bennet, February 11, 1967, Wright Brothers- Charles F. Kettering Oral History Project. University of Dayton Archives and Special Collections.

35. Dayton Daily News, July 6, 1974, "This Old House....", William Hershey Staff Writer.

36. From archive of Milton Wright to Grace Frazier letters, author's collection.