West Side Business Men Remember the Wright Brothers

When Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted their printing and cycle shop businesses at various locations along West Third Street in Dayton Ohio beginning in 1889, they were surrounded by other businessmen of whom they interacted. Some of these men include Frank Hamburger, from whom they purchased hardware; William and Irvin Fouts who ran the Owl drug store; William Tompert from whom they purchased meat; and William (Billy) Orth who ran a saloon of which the Wrights would not have partaken, but were certainly friendly with Orth. 

The Sanborn maps below show the locations of some of the various businesses of the owners discussed in this post. Images are provided through courtesy of the Library of Congress, and annotated by this Author. 

1897 combined Sanborn maps of south side of West Third street. Image will enlarge when clicked on using a desktop computer. Hamburger Hardware shop moved to north side of street to 1105/1107 in 1899.

Western edge of combined map above.

1897 combined Sanborn maps of north side of West Third street. Image will enlarge when clicked on using a desktop computer. 

Center section of 1897 Sanborn map above.

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Frank Hamburger 

As reported in the Dayton Daily News in 1936, "Hamburger, proprietor of a hardware store at 1105 W. Third st., and for 40 years engaged in business, had his store at the time the Wrights were engaged in their bicycle shop, immediately across the street from it. Naturally, he was neighborly with them and was familiar with what was going on the way of experimentation and building in the now famous room at the rear of the building. 

 

The Dayton Herald, June 16, 1909.

 

From The Dayton Herald (1)

 

'I frequently visited the boys in their shop and watched them while they were engaged in perfecting the parts which went into the first successful ship,' said Hamburger. 'I furnished them with hardware repairs which went into the motor and other parts while the building was going on.'

The Wright brothers, Hamburger agrees with the other pioneer business men of the West Side who were well acquainted with them, never were secretive about their work, unlike many other men who are engaged in giving the the world a new invention. They talked freely with their friends and neighbors and went about their business of designing and building undisturbed by the presence of these when they dropped into the shop to pass the time of day or on business.

Hamburger recalls having a small part in assisting the inventors when they were in France for their trial flights at the behest of the French government. 'When they took the plane abroad the stove bolts which they expected to use in assembling the shop were found to be too short,' Hamburger said, 'and they found it impossible to find what they required over there for the reason that the French apparently were not manufacturers and users of stove bolts. Accordingly they communicated with me and I sent them the bolts of the dimensions required to meet their needs.'

The veteran hardware dealer also claims the distinction of having seen the first successful flight of a Wright ship of the many conducted on Huffman prairie, following the successful one at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, 1903. 

Accompanied by the late William Fouts and James Jamison [Oscar F. Jamieson], of Germantown, Ind., a traveling salesman who was with Hamburger at the time, the trio went to the bicycle shop and learned that the Wrights were not present. Surmising that they were at their field the three went out to the prairie and there witnessed the memorable event. Hamburger recalls that, while visitors were not permitted on the field, he and his companions were allowed to remain, supposedly because the brothers recognized them as neighbors." (2)

In 1932, Hamburger shared, "It all happened a quarter century ago, and it could never, never happen again- that traction ride which a Dayton hardware dealer, a druggist and a shoe polish representative took on the hunch that they would see the miraculous. Frank Hamburger, the hardware-man, whose store is at 1105 W. Third st., not half a block from that other store in which two young inventors had toiled to achieve 'the miraculous,' told the story Saturday. At the end of the traction ride, at Simms Station (now Patterson Field), the trial to see the Wright brothers in their first successful flight since, months before, they had skimmed over the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The Kitty Hawk venture was the first satisfactory heavier-than-air flight......The men with Hamburger were Will Fouts and John Jamison [O. F. Jamieson]. Both, as far as he knows, are now dead. [William Fouts died November 13, 1923 (12)]  Fouts was a Dayton druggist and Jamison [Oscar F. Jamieson died May 15, 1930 (3)], who represented a shoe polish concern, was from Germantown, Ind. The suggestion to observe the flight attempt came from Jamison [Jamieson]. 'He and I roomed together at the time,' Hamburger recalled Saturday. [Unclear the meaning of "roomed together". Frank and wife Blanch lived at 1107 West Third. Perhaps while in town, Jamieson stayed in a spare room at 1107.] 'That morning he had the notion that the Wright boys were out at the field. Fouts wanted to go, too. We tried to find out at their home if they had gone to Simms Station, but we couldn't. 'So we acted on the hunch. When we got there, we found them prepared to make a trial. We helped pull up the weight they used to give the ship momentum. No one else was there. Just the five of us. Wilbur Wright took down our names in a little notebook he carried. He considered it worth remembering that we had been witnesses.' The plane did not rise high nor travel far, and when it came down it bumped along the ground on its sled-like landing gear. 

Back on the West Side (but it was still called Miami City in those days) Hamburger's, Fouts' and Jamison's [Jamieson's] friends did not believe their story. More than one asked them what they had been drinking. Hamburger told his story to the minister, and he didn't believe it either. 'His theory,' Hamburger said Saturday, 'was that the boys were wasting their time until they found something that would 'lift' the flying machine from the top. He told them so, too. But they just kept on reading all they could find on the subject. They knew they could fly if they could get enough 'push', and that they didn't need 'lift'. (4)

Wilbur Wright noted in his 1905 notebook, on October 3, Hamburger, Fouts, and O. F. Jamieson [Oscar F. Jamieson] were present at Huffman Prairie, in addition to Howard Myers and that two traction cars passed by during the successful flight by Orville of 25 minutes, 5 seconds. According to Hamburger's recollection in 1932, the three had visited Huffman Prairie early in 1904. The launching derick was first used in September of 1904. If the three had visited prior to September of 1904, Hamburger may have been remembering helping pull up the weight from their October 1905 visit.

Wilbur Wright's 1905 notebook, October 3. W. Fouts, F. Hamburger, O. F. Jamieson, Howard Myers present. Two traction cars passed during flight. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.

 

Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 report of September and October flights of 1905. (5)

 

Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 report, partial list of witnesses of flights at Huffman Prairie. (5)

In 1932, Frank also shared an account of how Orville Wright helped him at the time of the  Dayton Flood of March 23-24, 1898. The brothers had occupied The Wright Cycle Shop at 1127 West Third in 1897. Frank's Hardware store was located across the street at 1124. "At one time, back in the late 90's, when Dayton was visited by a flood, Hamburger's store was across the street, at 1124, from the Wright bicycle shop. He had a carload of nails in the basement, and he knew that if the water hit them, they would be worthless. Wilbur and Orville helped him move the nails upstairs, and would take no compensation." (4)

Years later, in 1948, George Antrim of the Gem City Ice Cream Company shared, "...I'd like to relate an incident that had to do with Orville's character as a neighbor. That is, when he helped Frank Hamburger boost a half carload of nails up out of the cellar of his hardware store on the morning of March 25, 1913, because he hated to see Frank lose a few nails because it looked like the river was coming over the levees, and it was predicted  that before noon everybody on the West Side would have a cellar full of water. [George has the flood date confused in his account. It was the 1898 Dayton flood, not the 1913 Dayton flood.]  Orville got his helper, Charles Taylor and, together with Frank and his clerk, they boosted the nails onto the ground floor. [George also stated this detail incorrectly. Charley Taylor was not employed by the Wrights until June of 1901. As stated by Frank Hamburger, it was Wilbur who helped Orville and Frank in lifting the nails to the ground floor.] Frank, in telling me about it, said, 'We worked like beavers, and when I offered to pay him, he wouldn't take a cent.' .....'When I was president, in 1928, and we had a meeting in honor of Orville, I told those two stories that had never been told publicly before. Just to make Orville feel at home, I had Charlie Webber, [Webbert] from whom he rented his shop; Frank  Hamburger, the hardware man; Jesse Gilbert, who ran a coal business in the next block, and Charlie Monback, the barber, who had given Orville more close shaves than he ever got in an airplane, on the platform. When I told that nail story, I said that a lot of fellows didn't like to set a price for their work when they had offered their services, but many of them would accept a tip should it be offered them; and since Orville had refused to set a price, it might not yet be too late for him to accept a tip. There-upon, Frank reached into his pocket and handed Orville a quarter. I promptly fined Orville a quarter for accepting a tip for such little service, as being un-Rotarian. Doc Lewis, sergeant-at-arms, collected the quarter and kept it. And he still has that quarter!" (6)

 

Orville Wright's tip. (15)

Orville, writing to his father March 31, 1898, "Dear Papa: .....We had a very narrow escape from the floods. By putting 500 men at work......they succeeded in building the levee high enough to keep the water out of Miami City [The West Side]. All other parts of town were more or less flooded. The water came up nearly two feet on the addition made to the levee. Had the water raised four inches higher we would have been under three or four feet of water. In North Dayton the water was up over first stories in some places. I will inclose [enclose] a few proofs of pictures we took. They have been exposed to the light till they are rather dim, but you can probably make something out of them. They give a little idea of what the water really looked like, though. The levee you see is what had been built during the day of the flood. The old levee being entirely covered between Williams street and the Third street bridges....." (7)

 

 

Glass plate negatives by Wrights of 1898 Wolf Creek flooding showing the water height right at the edge of the levee, courtesy of Library of Congress.

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Oscar F.  Jamieson 

Author's note- It was helpful that Wilbur Wright asked for O. F. Jamieson's name, as Hamburger and Fouts would have introduced him by his nickname James. The newspaper articles misspelled the last name, but fortunately, Wilbur asked him how to spell the name. Elsewhere, I found historians incorrectly listing his first name as Oliver. Through some investigation, I confirmed his name as Oscar F. Jamieson. In the 1900 census, his occupation is listed as "Commercial, trav. Shoe polish", and in the 1910 census, his occupation was listed as "Salesman, Shoe Polish Co." He married Ida Robina Mount in 1914. (3)

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William Condit Fouts 

William was born the same year and in the same State as Wilbur Wright, on September 24, 1867 in Indiana. During the years the Wrights Cycle Shop was located at 1127 West Third, Fout's The Owl Drug Company was located at 1101 West Third at the northwest corner of West Third and Williams streets. In addition to the October 3, 1905 visit to Huffman Prairie, William Fouts witnessed Orville's 17 minute, 15.5 second flight of 12 rounds of the field on September 30, 1905. Lorin Wright, Lorin's son Milton, and William Weber were also present that day. (8) William Weber was a plumber and he and his wife Ella lived at 1143 West Third.

About the visit, William Fouts stated, "It is the most wonderful thing that ever happened. I wouldn't believe it myself until I saw it.  I went out to Huffman's Prairie I expected to see somebody's neck broken. What I did see was a machine weighing 900 pounds soar away like an eagle. When they were about 60 or 70 feet in the air they pointed its nose to a horizontal line and sailed round like a great bird. No wavering. No ducking up and down. It just sailed around that ring like it had been running in a groove. I told a friend about it that night and he acted as if he thought I had gone daft or joined the Mars' club. I got permission from the Wright boys and next day I took him out with me. He groaned and shook his head when he saw the machine, but when it flew up in the air and began to circle gracefully around like an eagle, his grin turned to a look of amazement. He rubbed his eyes and pinched himself to see if he was awake. When we were coming home he said he would believe anything the Wright brothers might say hereafter. Yes, sir; the flying machine has arrived, and it was born in Dayton..." (9)

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Irvin Fouts 

As reported in the Dayton Daily News in 1936, "Fouts calls up the early days of the Wright brothers as a youth of that period, rather than as a contemporary business man. He had known them even before they took their location at 1127 W. Third st., at the time when they were operating a commercial printing shop on the second floor of the building at the southwest [southeast] intersection of Third and Williams sts.

 

Hoover Block, SE corner of West Third and Williams streets. Photo by Author.

'We kids used to go to the rear of the shop [at 1127 West Third Street] and see the Wrights at work in the rear room and I recall what a thrill it gave me when I saw their motor really running. [In early 1903, Irvin was 21 years old.]  I cannot say that the first airplane actually was constructed in that room, but the parts were perfected there and later were assembled in the device which gave the world a new era,' said Fouts." (2)

Irvin was William Fouts' nephew, son of William's oldest brother George. Irvin worked as a clerk at his uncles store from 1908 though 1923. As William never married, Irvin became the proprietor of his uncle's drug store business, The Owl Drug Company after William's death in 1923. (13)

 

Ad in The Dayton Herald, October 6, 1927.

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William Tompert 

As reported in the Dayton  Daily News in 1936, "Tompert, now retired, was for almost 36 years in the meat business at 1109 W. Third st., and has not only known the brothers over a long period, but also was a friend of their late father, Bishop Wright.

 

The Dayton Herald February 14, 1912, ad by Cadillac.

'I many times saw the Wrights engaged in making parts for their plane in their little work shop near my place of business," said Tompert. "I visited them often. It was at that shop that they began seriously upon the work connected with their first plane and gradually the bicycle business was made secondary to the experimental work.' 

 

The Dayton Herald June 16, 1909

 

Tompert recalls that the brothers had as their repairman and mechanic in the shop Charles Taylor. As the work on the airplane more and more engrossed the inventors and as they progressed they took Taylor from the bicycle end of the business and he afterwards devoted most of his time on work on the plane. 'The boys worked a great deal at night,' said Tompert, 'but apparently not because they had anything to conceal. They were tireless workers who kept steadily at their task and right well do I recall the grimy appearance they presented when at work with their tools in the rear room upon the motor and other essentials of the plane.' [The Wrights had the reputation of staying clean when working on their bicycles. Tompert's recollection hints that when working on the motor, the grease and oil made its impact on the brothers.] 

Tompert agrees with other of their friends of that early day that the Wrights never appeared disturbed by persons coming into the shop while they were engaged and they they talked freely of their plans at hand and their hopes for the future." (2)

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William Orth  

As reported in the Dayton Daily News in 1936, "Orth is the proprietor of a cafe at 1022 W. Third st., which he operated as well at the time the Wright boys were occupants of the room at 1127 W. Third st.

 

Dayton Daily News, January 9, 1953 (11)

 

The Moose Cafe at 1022 West Third, from Dayton Daily News, May 15, 1915 ad.

 

Panoramic of south side of 1000 block West Third street, showing former location of the Orth building. The Orth building no longer stands, today an empty lot. Address along West Third changed in 1939. The address numbers as shown are pre-1939. In 1939, the address at 1022/24 changed to 1030/1034. Unaware of the address change, modern historians misinterpreted the Orth building location as the second location of the Wright Cycle Exchange at 1034 West Third. However prior to 1939, the 1034 address applied to the footprint of the east end of the Setzer building, which in 1893 was a single story structure.

 

He had occasion to drop into the bicycle shop at least once a week. In discussing the activities which were going on within the shop Orth said he and other of their friends gave no particular thought to what they were doing about building an airplane and he agrees with those who knew them well that they worked hard and tirelessly. 

'I remember that the boys after taking the store room erected a balcony which ran across the west side of the front room and that this was reached by a flight of steps. The balcony provided the proprietors with office space, while at the same time looking down upon the store room and making ti possible for them to see a customer when one entered the shop." Again referring to what some persons believed was a wild dream on the part of the brothers in ever perfecting a heavier-than-air machine which actually would fly, Orth laughingly remarked that he was one of those who "gave them the benefit of the doubt.'

He recalls also that the shop at 1127 W. Third st., was the third institution of the kind which the inventors had. The first was on S. Williams st., to the east of the building which has become famous as the one in which occurred the birth of the airplane. [1127 W. Third was not the third cycle shop location. The first location was at 1015 W Third, the second at 1034 West Third, the third was a temporary move to the second floor of the Hoover Block for a number of months after vacating 1034 prior to the move to the fourth and fifth locations of 22 S. Williams and 23 West Second Street.] 'I have in my memory one particular experience which I had with the boys. That was when they were experimenting with a hydroplane. I took the first ride with them in the thing when they launched it on the Miami river near the Third st. bridge. It would float all right," but it wouldn't leave the water and rise in the air. Even then I would have invested a thousand dollars with the boys, but they never asked me for it.'" (2)

William retired in 1941. From a Dayton Daily News story from August of that year, "Orth told about his start in the liquor business which began in 1887, at Third and Williams sts., which then was known as Ripp's corner....Orth said he took over the saloon of Mike Amann, when the latter died in 1887 at the suggestion of the late Adam Schantz. The records show he stayed there only six months, did a grand business and then he started out to look for a place for himself. He located at 1029 W. Third st., and after staying there a few years [1889-1898], bought a vacant lot across the street at No. 1030 [1024] after having a building erected, has been there ever since, except for the prohibition period, when he leased his place. With the repeal of prohibition, Orth went back into the business. That was in 1934 [1937]." (10) 

Note that Orth bought a vacant lot. The 1884 and 1887 Sanborn maps show a structure at 1024. Perhaps the home burned down in 1898, and the resulting vacant lot was available for Orth to purchase. The new structure of 1022/24 shows on the 1919 Sanborn map.

The address of 1030 was the address at the time this article was written in 1941. However, when Orth purchased the lot and built the building, the address at that time was 1022/24. In 1939, addresses along the 1000 block of West Third changed, and 1022/24 became 1030/34. Orth's location was shown in the Dayton City Directories at 1029 W. Third in 1889, and he remained there through 1898. The 1899 Dayton Directory lists his address as "Wine and Beer Saloon; Choice Brands of Liquors and Cigars; Adam Schantz's Cool Lager always on Tap, 1024 W. 3d; Residence same. (Mrs. Katie). In 1900, the listing read as "saloon, 1022 W. 3d, res.1024 W. 3d. (Mrs. Katie). In 1937, the Directory lists for the first time Orth's restaurant at 1022 W. Third, and the 1939 Directory indicates the address change of Orth's restaurant as 1030 W. Third. Years prior, they had left their residence and leased out the 1024 west side of the building and lived at the NW corner of Orth Avenue and Negley Place.

 

Compilation of Sanborn maps from 1887, 1897, 1919, and 1950 is shown here, assembled by this author. The location of 1034 West Third is identified in each with a yellow star. This marks the building where the Wright Cycle Exchange/Wright Cycle Company was located in 1893-1894. The numbering of the addresses changed in 1939, with old and new numbering depicted on the 1950 plan. 1034 was changed to 1048. Also note that 1022/1024 was changed to 1030/1034, leading previous historians to mistakenly identify this building as the location of the 1893/94 Wright Cycle Company.

 

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Frank Hamburger passed away January 31, 1937 at Miami Valley Hospital, at the age of 72. Buried at Memorial Park Cemetery. (1)

Oscar F. Jamieson passed away May 15, 1930 at his home in Pershing, Indiana, at the age of 70. (3)

William C. Fouts passed away November 13, 1923 at his home at 115 N. Williams St., at the age of 56. Buried at Woodland Cemetery. (12)

Irvin H. Fouts passed away February 24, 1962, at the age of 80. Buried at Woodland Cemetery. (13)

William Tompert passed away March 24, 1947 at Miami Valley Hospital, at the age of 85. Buried at Woodland Cemetery. (14)

William Orth passed away January 9, 1953 at St. Elizabeth Hospital, at the age of 87. Buried at Calvary cemetery. (11)

 

Dayton Daily News May 15, 1915 list of West Side Merchants. Note Pearson Delicatessen at 1127 West Third Street. Orville left his 2nd floor office at this location to move to the Wright Aeronautical Laboratory at 15 North Broadway in December of 1916.

There are many historical photographs of the West Side businesses from the list above contained within the Dayton History Permanent Collection. 

 

Copyright 2026-Getting the Story Wright

 

Related Posts:

Witnesses of Wright Brother's Simms Station (Huffman Prairie) 1905 Flights 

Wright Cycle Exchange, 1015 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio 

22 South Williams Street- Wright Cycle Company/Wright & Wright Printers (1895-1897) 

The Wright Brother's Print and Cycle Shop Locations 

The Gem City Ice Cream Building and the 1st Wright Cycle Shop 

West Third Street, Dayton Ohio Wright Brother Connection 

 

Notes-

1. The Dayton Herald, Feb 1, 1937 "Frank Hamburger Called by Death" 

2. Dayton Daily News, July 5, 1936 "Early Days At Wright Plane Shop Recalled By Business Neighbors"

3. The Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, Richmond, Indiana, Friday May 16, 1930 "O. F. Jamieson Funeral Will Be On Sunday" "Funeral services for Oscar F. Jamieson, 70 years old, oldest native born citizen of Pershing, who died at his home here Thursday afternoon will be held on Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Evangelical Church. Rev. M. L. Shiedler, pastor of the church, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Lutheran cemetery of Pershing. Mr. Jamieson's death was due to heart disease. He was a life-long and prominent resident of Pershing.....Mr. Jamieson owned and operated the general store of the vicinity during the earlier years of his life. During more recent years he had been a traveling salesman, having stayed in this sort of work for 40 years. Mr. Jamieson retired four years ago. The deceased had been ill for a period of about three weeks preceding his death....Survivors include the widow; one daughter, Mrs. Louis J. Gardener, Chicago, a brother, Charles, Orlando, Fla.; a step-daughter, Mrs. Fred Hines, Green's Fork; two granddaughters, Joan and Jean Marie, Green's Fork; two sisters, Mrs. Anna Pittman, Houston, Texas, and Mrs. Elmer Hurst, Connersville. Mr. Jamieson was a member of the Red Men's lodge and the Travelers Protective association."  

4. The Dayton Daily News Sunday October 16, 1932 "Daytonian, Recalling Early Wright Brothers' Trials, Prizes Replica Of Wrecked Craft" 

5.  From Author's collection. Copy of John Wood's, author of Airports, Elements of Design, given to him by Orville Wright. 

6. The Dayton Herald, February 7, 1948, "Rotary Club Speakers Pay High Tribute To Memory of Member, Orville Wright", from Louis Christman newspaper collection, now part of Author's archives. It is interesting with the passing of time, how memories can merge different events. George confused the 1913 Dayton Flood with the 1898 Dayton Flood in his account. Orville and Katharine awoke to the flooding of the neighborhood in 1913, and escaped the home and area. There was no time in 1913 to move items such as the glass plate negatives stored in the shed behind their home. In 1898, there was time to move items, and fortunately, the water didn't rise to flood West Third Street at that time. 1913 was a much different story. 

7. Orville Wright to Milton Wright, March 31, 1898, on Wright Cycle Company letterhead, Family Papers: Correspondence- Wright, Orville, 1881, 1888-1898, Library of Congress. 

8.  Wilbur & Orville Wright A Reissue of A Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Orville Wright August 19, 1871, by Arthur George Renstrom. 

9. The Dayton Daily News, January 5, 1906 "North Pole Can Not Be Reached", "Testimony Of Two Witnesses". William Weber was quoted as saying, "It just sailed right off the ground like a bird and sailed round and round until they got ready to come down. Then it lit like a duck on the water."

10. The Dayton Daily News Sunday August 10, 1941 "Bill Orth, Dayton's Oldest Saloon Keeper, Is Going To Retire" 

11. The Dayton Daily News Friday January 9, 1953 "William Orth, Cafe Owner, Hunter, Dies" 

12. The Dayton Daily News Thursday November 15, 1923 "Funeral Rites- William C. Fouts"

13. Dayton City Directories 1900-1924, Family Tree, The Dayton Herald, October 6, 1927.

14. The Dayton Herald, March 26, 1947, "William Tompert Rites Tomorrow". 

15. Not the actual quarter. But, in 1928, the tip would have been a standing liberty quarter similar to the one shown. Placed on letter from George Antrim from Author's collection. 

 

Oscar Cesare's Life Sketches of Orville Wright

 

Oscar Edward Cesare caricature illustration of Wilbur and Orville Wright, as published in New York Times, July 6, 1924 within article, "What Europe Thinks of Us". Image courtesy of Delaware Art Museum. A visit soon between Oscar Cesare and Orville Wright will result in a life portrait.

In 1924, Orville and his sister Katharine returned to Oakwood from their two month stay at Lambert Island that summer, arriving home September 14th. November of that year, Orville welcomed a guest to his Hawthorn Hill home, and to his laboratory at 15 North Broadway in Dayton. Oscar Cesare, illustrator for The New York Times, visited Orville, drew some life sketches, and then wrote of the visit, printed along with Orville's portrait in the February 1, 1925 New York Times issue.

 

Announcement in Dayton Daily News, February 13, 1925. Oscar visited Orville in November of 1924, in lieu of just a few weeks prior to February 13th as printed above. 

 

February 15, 2025 reprint in the Dayton Daily News of the February 1, 1925 New York Times article written by Oscar Cesare.

A portion of Oscar Cesare's February 1, 1925 article follows:

"Orville Wright's office and laboratory are in a two-story brick building at N. Broadway and Third st., Dayton." [Actually, a single story building with partial basement area below east office section for the boiler, and higher ceiling area for lab section at west end.] 

 

Wright Aeronautical Laboratory, 15 North Broadway, Dayton, Ohio. October 28, 1917 press photo, Author's collection. Orville's office (study) was to the right as enter through the front door, and waiting room to the left.

 

"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. 

The photographs on the walls furnish an easy and natural peg upon which to hang an introduction, to approach the subject dearest to him- the early days of Wright and his brother. His reserve melts into a subdues 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." (1)

Oscar Cesare's completed drawing of Orville is shown below. Orville signed his name, a clear indication that he was pleased with the results, though Cesare felt there was room for improvement. 

 

Oscar Cesare 1924 life sketch of Orville Wright, signed by Orville. From Author's collection. (2)

In addition to the sketch above, Oscar produced a straight on view of Orville which was printed in the August 1925 issue of the magazine, The World's Work, a portrait which was also signed by Orville.

 

Oscar Cesare sketch of Orville Wright as published in The World's Work, August 1925.

 

Another visit between Cesare and Wright resulted in a profile view drawing of Orville, dated June of 1927. Orville had just met Charles Lindbergh for the first time June 22, with Lindbergh and others spending the night at Hawthorn Hill, and leaving early the next morning. Cesare visited with Orville that afternoon of June 23. As reported in the Dayton Daily News that day:

 

Dayton Daily News, June 23, 1927.

"O. E. Cesare, to whom the sketching of political dictators and distinguished men of affairs is an every day affair, came to Dayton Thursday to make a drawing of Orville Wright. The man who had entertained Lindbergh the night before, posed for the distinguished artist in his Broadway laboratory, and the resulting picture and interview will appear in the New York Times magazine soon. 

It was the third time in 16 years that Cesare had drawn the father of aviation, and this trip was made from New York because "Orville Wright is of increasing importance" as the full significance of what he did 24 years ago is borne in upon the American people.....

The first time he saw Orville Wright was in 1911 at Belmont Park, Cesare says. There Mr. Wright and his brother, Wilbur, was [sic] making flights in the machine that nobody believed would ever become pratical [sic]. Cesare has a gift for quick, bold lines, but quick as he might be Wilbur Wright was too agile for him. Whenever he arrived at a crucial point in the drawing, Wilbur Wright would discover that he was being sketched and would quickly turn away or go into a hangar. In those days, the Wright brothers were not alive to the value of publicity for their project and they rather resented the persistence of the young newspaper artist who followed them about the field. 

Two years ago, en route from San Francisco to New York, Cesare stopped off in Dayton and made a portrait of Orville Wright. Unsatisfied with that work, however, he now returns to make studies from which he will work out a dry point etching of permanent value.

He had already sketched Lindbergh, whose spectacular flight again drew the attention of the world to the man whose idea originally made that flight possible. That was at the dinner given by the Aircraft Manufacturers in New York, when Lindbergh first arrived in this country. Cesare has recently completed a dry etching of the "Spirit of St. Louis" made from sketches executed at the field Lindbergh took off on that eventful morning when he set out for Paris. In the picture the plane is headed straight into the breaking dawn. It is a striking conception, and Cesare has presented a copy of it to Orville Wright. 

 

Oscar Cesare "Spirit of St. Louis"

 

He has also given Mr. Wright a copy of a photograph of Wilbur Wright, that he unearthed in New York. It was made in France in the days when the Wright brothers were first making exhibition flights.....

Cesare is himself a man of distinguished appearance. Six feet tall, well built, bearing the earmarks of one who has traveled far and wide in many lands, he is instantly noticeable among other men yet without a single mannerism to draw attention to himself. 

He will remain in Dayton until Friday, returning at that time returning [sic] to New York to prepare his copy for the Times..." (3)

 

A portion of what Cesare shared of the visit follows, New York Times, July 17, 1927:

"Not far from the field where the droning planes overhead come and go [ now Wright Patterson Air Force Base] stands a shed, its original coat of paint worn and faded to a dirty gray-green, bleached by sun and storms some twenty-odd years. This is the cradle, the manger of modern aviation. It is the first "hangar". [The Wright hangar no longer exists]  

 

Wright hangar at Huffman Prairie, December 10, 1928 (Paramount News press photo).

Referring to the mysterious secretiveness attributed to the brothers over the flying machine, he [Orville] said he could not see how the legend matched the facts, for in 1904 the machine stood in the field near its shed, all day long, with a curious idle crowd about it waiting to see the mass of linen, wires and struts go into the air, which (as it does today) depended much more on the weather man than on the Wright brothers. When a favorable wind would spring up, a street car would be sure to pass, and they could not start for fear of hitting it, as the flying altitude was very low, especially at the start. 

When all kinds of sensational stories about the inventors were scattered through the press they grew tired of the false reports and ridicule. They withdrew from interviewers. But one among those interviewers won the brother's confidence. A man with a "fine head", a man who evidently had been "something else" at one time, appeared. He reported their efforts truthfully and grasped their problem. This itinerant reporter came to the field every day to hear of their successes or failures and became the trusted chronicler of these early flights; he shared the Wright's faith. (4)

When that famous young flier, Lindbergh, was the guest of Orville Wright [June 22, 1927], flowers were showered upon both. Next morning Orville got into his car and drove to the hospital where the one-time reporter now lies ill and shared his flowers with the man who believed in him." 

Oscar Cesare Orville Wright drawing published in The World's Work, September 1928.

 

Image dated June, 1927, Dayton.

 

Oscar Cesare visited Orville Wright once again on October 28, 1938 to again produce a number of sketches of Orville, and to write of the experience, printed in the New York Times on December 11, 1938. 

 Oscar Cesare, December 11, 1938

"Today, Orville Wright, who is 67 years old, lives quietly in Dayton, working and meditating in his office, or reading in his white house on a suburban hill. It would probably surprise most of those to whom the name of Wright is synonymous with flying to know that Orville spends much money and time in helping other people. He spends more time in charity than on aviation. He has not flown in an airplane for years. He prefers to do as much good as he can for others. The porter in a hotel in Dayton was asked it he knew Mr. Wright. 

"Yes," he said, "he sent me to school". 

There is no monument to the Wrights in Dayton, [The Wright Memorial in Dayton was dedicated in 1940] although an air field which encloses the farm land they used for their early experiments is named for them; but there are lots of young people in Dayton who are grateful to Orville. It is this retiring, kindly tendency of the man which makes it so difficult to talk about aviation.

But sometimes Orville Wright can be persuaded to talk about the early days of flying......Mr. Wright likes to recall the afternoons on flying fields when the planes were silhouetted against the golden sky, when the wind had died down and the throb of the motors cold be heard from the slow, circling planes overhead, with perhaps a handful of spectators, most of them hoping that a record would be made in flying on that day. They were thrilling days for the Wright brothers.

When Mr. Wright does talk of these things it is usually in his office in a one-story building on North Broadway, not far from where the first workshop stood. That workshop, by the way, has been removed by Henry Ford to Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Mich., and stands beside [near but not beside]  Edison's first laboratory. Mr. Wright talks slowly and deliberately, sometimes pausing a few moments as if trying to recall some memory.....

A photograph of Wilbur Wright, which Orville thinks is the best likeness of him, is in the office. The men were very close to each other, and it is evident that Wilbur is often in his brother's thoughts.....

 

Wilbur Wright, 1908. Image courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State Libraries, ms1_23_1_8. Photo imperfections corrected by Author.

 

In another room is Mr. Wright's roll-top desk, and in one corner is a drawing board with what looks like a sketch of a wing section on it. The desk of Mabel Beck, his secretary, is there also. Mr Wright's correspondence is large, and it takes up a good part of his working day, which lasts from 8:30 A.M to 6 P.M., except for an hour at lunch....

When his day's work at the office is done, and much of it has to do with helping other people, he gets into his car and drives home to his white house on the hill. It is a comfortable, even artistically furnished house, and on the walls are many pictures, some of them of famous men who have made aviation history. There is one picture of a Virginia countryside, with the graceful Wright biplane of the early days flying a few hundred feet high in an army test. In the foreground is a patch of red Virginia earth. Mr. Wright laughs when he looks at it. 

"It may not be the best painting in the world, but I remember that patch of dirt," he says, "I fell on it."

 

Orville Wright's library reading room, Hawthorn Hill, with close-up of painting. Photo by Author.

Orville Wright spends the Summers at Georgian Bay, Canada. He has remodeled an old house, which he thought when he first saw it was one of the ugliest houses in the world; now he says it has a rather Chinese pagoda effect.

 

Lambert Island home on left as it appeared in 1918, and remodeled home on right. Remodeling began in August of 1932. Photos courtesy of Wright State University Libraries Core Scholar. (6)

 

The years have dealt kindly with Orville Wright, although he still suffers from the effects of the first airplane accident- a crash that cost the life of his companion, Lieutenant Selfridge, at Fort Myer, Va., in 1908. He is the picture of health. Though his curly hair has grayed, his blue eyes are keen, with the same old gleam of kindness. He has not changed since the writer last saw him, in 1927. 

He is an inveterate reader. Contemporary literature attracts him, but he likes best the delve into books on science, sociology and what is going on in the world today. He is a keen student of human affairs, although he keeps his opinions to himself. His natural reserve cannot altogether suppress his sense of the ridiculous and his quizzical humor. And withal he is a kindly, lovable man, never bitter, even when speaking of some of the early disappointments which he and his brother faced. 

Where Orville Wright found the philosopher's stone he has never revealed but he has it hidden somewhere about him." (7) 

 

Initial life sketch of Orville Wright by Oscar Cesare, October 28, 1938. From Author's collection.

 

Orville Wright sketch transition by Oscar Cesare, 1938. From Author's collection.

 

 

Finished 1938 sketch of Orville Wright by Oscar Cesare, 1938. Currently within The National Portrait Gallery, image courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

 

 

Orville Wright 1938 sketch by Oscar Cesare. From Author's collection.

 

 Oscar Cesare died July 25, 1948 at the age of 63, six months after the passing of Orville Wright.

 

Copyright 2026-Getting the Story Wright

 

Related Posts:

15 North Broadway- The Wright Aeronautical Laboratory 

Intersecting Lives

 

Notes-

1. Dayton Daily News Sunday Magazine Section, February 15, 1925, "With Orville Wright In His Workshop", by Oscar Cesare. Originally printed in The New York Times.

2. The sketch is stamped Feb 1, 1925 at bottom edge, which is crossed out, and written above that date is Nov, 1924, which I take as the actual time of the visit between Cesare and Wright. Pleased to own this sketch, and personally, I find it a better drawing of Orville than the ones Cesare published in August of 1925 (straight-on) and September of 1928 (profile).

3. Dayton Daily News, June 23, 1927, "Wright Poses for Sketch by Noted Artist". 

4. I have not been able to determine the identity of this man Orville visited in the Hospital. If more information becomes available, I'll update this post. I'm assuming the reporter would not have had access to Huffman Prairie in 1904, and if in 1905, not until late in the season, and cameras would not have been allowed. Perhaps the reporter's activity was in 1910 and 1911. 

5. From The Dayton Herald, December 17, 1946.

6. Photos are from Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University Libraries. Remodeled home ms1_26_3_186 description "A view of Orville Wright's summer home, 1916-1938." Actual date of photo would be after late 1932, likely 1933 or 1934.

7. The New York Times Magazine, December 11, 1938, "Orville Wright Looks Backward", by Oscar Cesare.

 

The Tom Hanks Wright Brothers Miniseries Illustrated

Additional November 1, 2026 

In 2015, Tom Hanks announced plans of producing a miniseries based on an adaptation of David McCullough's book, "The Wright Brothers", to air on HBO. Wilbur and Orville Wright's story would be presented from their early childhood, to bicycle manufacturers, to their world fame as conquerors of the air.  More than ten years have passed, but the wait has been worth it, as now with great pride, exclusive inside previews of this historic documentary have been solely granted to Getting The Story Wright, and will now be shared with the reading audience. (1)

 

Tom Hanks and HBO proudly presents..... (initial scenes as credits role)

 

It is early September in Dayton Ohio, the year of 1900. A close up of a man's hand with pen, writing a letter. Dipping the pen into the inkwell, and inscribing a message. Stopping briefly, as he looks up and out through the living room window sees his brother Orville ride by on a bicycle.

 

 

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. 

 

The scene follows Orville as he rides north on Williams Street towards the Wright Cycle Shop. Small children play about the sidewalks, horse and carriages and motor cars share the streets. Orville reaches West Third, but waits for cross traffic, balancing in place on his bicycle, shifting the front wheel back and forth while both feet remain on the pedals, the cycle remaining at the curb and upright. Two pedestrians nearby observe Orville's balancing, and one asks the other.....

 

 

 

Orville Wright, the man with one red shoe, on West Third Street, Dayton.

 

 

We hear Wilbur's voice dictating the words as he pens a note to his father, "I am intending to start in a few days for a trip to the coast of North Carolina in the vicinity of Roanoke Island, for the purpose of making some experiments with a flying machine. It is my belief that flight is possible...I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'll be alright....." An amazing music score by Billy Joel begins to play, as "The Wright Brothers" Mini-series is announced.

 

 

 

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS...............our story begins at the Dayton Fairgrounds. Wilbur Wright's research pays off.....

 

 

 

Wilbur learns that Kitty Hawk, North Carolina is a great place to test their glider.

 

  

Scenes of Wilbur preparing to travel on a train. The conductor calls out, "All Aboard! All Aboard!" And saying to Wilbur,  "Well, you coming? Sounds like this is your crucial year. If I were you, I would think about climbing on board." 

 

 

 

 

Union Station, Dayton, Ohio. Express to the East.

 

 

Having traveled east by train, and now awaiting a boat, Wilbur again takes pen in hand.
"I am at this place waiting for a boat to take me across Albemarle Sound to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, which will be my address at present...."

The scene opens with a small boat with two occupants. A rather heavyset salty old sea dog of a man, and a lone rather uncomfortable passenger, Wilbur Wright.

Fat Jack- "What's the matter? You look a little nervous."

Wilbur- "The boat is smaller than I anticipated. My swimming skills, I fear, are not up to sufficient standards for these waters."
(Wilbur is distracted for a moment, as he stares at a volley ball floating by with an odd painted face.) 

Fat Jack- responding to Wilbur's nervousness........

 

 

 

Wilbur Wright about to cast away to Kitty Hawk by means of Fat Jacks skiff.

 

The boat creaks to a halt, bobbing in the waves.
Wilbur- "What's the matter?"
Fat Jack- "I guess when I rocked the boat I must of got a little water in the engine. I can fix it, I'm mechanical."
At this point, Wilbur smiles when he realizes Mr. Fat Jack perhaps shares his brother Orville and his mechanical interests and skills. Fat Jack picks up a hammer from the bottom of the boat, and begins to pound dents into the boat engine.

Camera shot of hammer pounding engine transitions to hammer pounding nails into tar paper covering the roof of the small hangar and living quarters of Wilbur and Orville on the sands of Kill Devil Hills. An historic hurricane has hit Kitty Hawk, as Orville struggles to steady the hammer in the 80 mph winds, driving rain, and blowing sand. 

 

 

Wilbur begins to silently question if he wasted a quarter at the Fairgrounds.

 

 

The rain eventually subsides. Just as the brothers think perhaps this vast wilderness of sand, wind, and isolation isn't so bad, the camera pans the horizon as a dark cloud grows larger and larger, and the buzzing of mosquitos grows louder and louder......

 

 

 

Wilbur and Orville would often take opposite sides on an issue and debate it for hours.....

 

 

After disappointing results with their glider, Wilbur and Orville return home. It became apparent that the established data they had been using for wing design was faulty. They decide to build their own wind tunnel. 

Wilbur- We need a rectangular box and a fan. 

Orville- Scrap wood and buggy pieces may have worked for the printing press, but we'll need something of higher quality materials for this project........

 

 

 

The 1901 Wright Wind Tunnel.

 

Scenes of the brothers trying various wing shapes in their wind tunnel. Orville writes, "I can remember when Wilbur and I could hardly wait for morning to come to get at something that interested us. That's happiness!" With the data they obtain from their wind tunnel, the Wrights head back to Kitty Hawk with an improved glider design.

The cameras pan the landscape to some distant activity on the beach. Taking a break, the Brothers stroll along the shoreline of the Atlantic. They come upon several men carrying some crates.
Orville- "What is it you have there?"
Walter Kornbluth- "What? Why? Why do you ask?? I knew it! You're here to spy on me!" 

Wilbur- "No, really, we're just here to experiment......."
Kornbluth- (Interrupting) "I suppose you're just some harmless beachcombers who happen to wear tuxedos!
Other two men- (Chuckling, snickers, making faces.)
Orville- "Yes, we've built a glider and intend to glide down that large sand dune over there.
All three men- (Doubling over with laughter.) "Going to fly over the sand dunes are they? Haaaaahhhh! Snort snort, haaaaaaahhhaaa"

 

 

Wilbur and Orville making a splash with Walter Kornbluth.

 

Mermaid fins are seen in the waters just beyond the shoreline, and to the sound of an engine popping and propellers chopping, the scene changes to a cold December day in 1903, with Orville making the first 12 second flight of 120 feet. 

Witnesses cheer Orville on, as Wilbur runs along side the aeroplane. The men are yelling.....

 

 

Wilbur breaking loose from leg braces at Kitty Hawk, as Orville shouts, "Catch me if you can!"

 

 

Those 12 seconds pass by slowly, as Wilbur's heart beat grows louder and louder, close up of men cheering in slow motion, close up of Orville's face as he rides the wild beast, and then to Wilbur's face, and then to Wilbur's thoughts of the future, of the advancement of flight, the conquering of the skies, and eventually of outer space. Wilbur imagines himself in a spacecraft heading for the moon, the Apollo 13 mission.......

 

Wilbur forgot to bring his spacesuit, and calls Houston to report.

 

 

Wilbur is suddenly snapped back to reality, as Orville lands the Flyer. Wilbur takes a turn with similar results. Then Orville, and then Wilbur with the longest flight of 852 feet, 59 seconds. After these flights, a sudden gust of wind picks up the Flyer and begins to flip it. One of the five witnesses, John Daniels, jumps and grabs a strut, and is carried away with the aeroplane, as it rolls over and breaks apart, Daniels screaming as wires break and wood splinters and fabric tears. There would be no more flights that day.- Orville (whispering to Wilbur) .................

 

 

 

 

What a day! John Daniels meets up later with his brother Jack for a drink.

 

 

The Brothers pack the Flyer up and head back to Dayton in time for Christmas with the family. As the happy times are shared with their father Milton, their sister Katharine, and their brother Lorin's family, the winter snows eventually yield to the Spring's arrival. The scene changes to a cow pasture 8 miles east of Dayton,  Huffman Prairie. 

Camera shot is from Orville's perspective, as he is manipulating the controls, flying the machine at Huffman Prairie, it begins to wobble and suddenly dives toward the ground. Orville loses control of the elevator and the craft smashes to earth, head first, at a speed of 30 miles per hour. What is left of the Flyer bounces three times down the field, upending on the front edges, catapulting Orville out of the cradle and through a broken section of the top wing. Charlie Taylor's whole body jerks and jumps slightly in the air upon seeing this (in classic Belushi style). Wilbur runs to Orville's aid.....

 

 

Huffman Prairie, 1905. Charlie Taylor (played by Jim Belushi), is concerned for Orville's welfare.

 

 

With further experimentation, the Flyer behaves, and by October, the Brothers have the world's first practical flying machine, the Wright Flyer III. 

 

 

 

On October 5th, 1905, Wilbur rounds the field 30 times as Orv, Charlie, and Forrest look on.

 

 

 

Their father is seen writing in his diary, "Orville flew in 33 minutes and 20 seconds 21 miles.....I saw Wilbur fly 24 miles in 38 minutes and four seconds..."  With pride for their nation, they send off a proposal to the US Government.

 

 

You've got mail!

 

 

If America didn't want the Flyer, the Wrights would offer their machine to the world. It took that option to gain the attention of the US. The years 1908 and 1909 fill the miniseries with some of the most exciting entertainment yet.

 

Wilbur, Orville, and Katharine, World Celebrities.

 

An incredible celebration on Main Street in Dayton, Ohio, 1909 as the Wright's home town welcomes the Brothers back from their successful flights across the ocean. Scenes of the parade, presentation of gold metals, and the fireworks that evening bring the excitement of those days to the viewer's of this miniseries.

 

The Wright Home Celebration, Dayton, Ohio, June 17, 18, 1909. 

 

 

 

 

Later that year, Wilbur arrives in New York City during the Hudson Fulton Celebration. He makes his amazing flight over the Hudson river and around the Statue of Liberty while millions of New Yorkers witness the incredible event in awe.

 

 

 

No longer sleepless in Seattle, a couple observes Wilbur Wright circling the Statue of Liberty.

 

Turning the pages of the script through a number of scenes, the story takes a sad turn...

Very emotional scene of Wilbur fighting Typhoid fever in May of 1912. Difficult time for the family, and Orville and Katharine are hit hard by the loss.

Then, one chilly March morning of 1913 after days of heavy rain, the streets of Dayton are flooded this time not with its citizens celebrating the Wright's accomplishments, but with raging water as the levies can no longer hold back the rising rivers. Major cool special effects and an even more amazing musical score, the City is flooded and on fire, Orville and Katharine fight to escape the rising flood waters. An unexpected plot twist occurs when Katharine (played by Daryl Hannah) is initially overcome and pulled under by  the waters, but then miraculously bursts upward from the depths with amazing swimming abilities, and rescues thousands.  Bishop Wright separated from the family, whereabouts unknown. 

 

Orville, with the only Shrimp boat to survive the storm, is able to save thousands.

 

 

As the water rises, the 1903 Wright Flyer is seen submerged under 12' of water and mud. The Wright's home is shown as water floods the first floor level. The glass plate negatives of the Wright's experiments at Kitty Hawk, and the first flight negative is seen as it goes under water stored in the storage shed behind the Wright home. 

 

Though Wilbur is gone, his words are heard through the wind and rain-

" Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. And no one can direct his life entirely as he would choose. And that's all I have to say about that."

Any resemblance of scenes or musical scores within The Wright Brothers  miniseries to those of Splash, Man With One Red Shoe, Forest Gump, Cast Away, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Big, Apollo 13, A League of Their Own, That Thing You Do, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Polar Express, Catch Me if You Can, Bosom Buddies, or The Money Pit, is mere coincidence. 

 

 

Copyright 2026-Getting the Story Wright

 

For more Wright Brother humor and adventures, see posts:

The Secret Orville Wright Lab Experiments
Great Scott! It's Wilbur Wright back in 1909!
A Journey back in time: An interview with Orville Wright

Orville Wright- The Art Critic 

An alternate time line: The 1905 Wright Flyer III flies again!

What if the Wright Brothers had not experimented in flight in the early 1900's? 

Connecticut, you have Gustave be kidding me!

The Proud State of Connecticut, First in Historical Revisionism!

Index of Topics

 

Notes-

1. Images created by Author using Google AI Gemini tools, and Microsoft Paint.