He’s one of many Miami Valley athletes who have represented the area in the Olympics. Ed Cook, who coached Oakwood track, won gold in the pole vault in 1908. Edwin Moses was a force in hurdles for years. Darrell Pace won medals in archery in three different Olympics.
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Those are just a few of the 60-plus athletes with southwest Ohio connections who have competed in the Games. For this edition of Vintage Dayton, we went into the archives for stories of past Olympians with a look at those with local connections to watch this year as the opening ceremony officially kicks off the Paris Olympics today.
• TODAY’S FEATURED STORY: Olympians from the Dayton area: A history of more than 60 top athletes
More on Dayton’s great Olympians
• Dayton’s ‘Human Fish’: How Charles Daniels became the world’s greatest swimmer in the early 1900s
• Lucinda Williams Adams: Rising above segregation to reach a gold medal
• Who is Edwin C. Moses? Meet one of Dayton’s most celebrated athletes ever
Did you know?
Here are a few great Dayton history facts we’ve learned from our stories:
• A hotel stood at the corner of Sixth and Main streets in downtown Dayton for more than 100 years
The 69-room, three-story brick National Hotel was torn down in 1952.
• Springboro’s was founded on July 25, 1815
Jonathan Wright purchased the land that is now the historic downtown area of Springboro that year, according to the Springboro Chamber of Commerce.
• The Rolling Stones played at Hara Arena just three weeks after their first “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance
The review is brutal, and the accompanying headline “Rolling Stones Gather No Customers Here” seems almost ridiculous today considering the influence on music and culture the band has had.
• The polonium trigger for the Manhattan Project was made in Dayton
Dayton scientists worked out the methods for separating sufficient polonium from irradiated bismuth slugs, purifying it, and forming it into the bomb triggers.
• As many as 66 passenger trains came through Dayton daily at the height of Union Station
Dayton’s Union Station was dedicated in 1900 and operated into the 1970s as one of the city’s most beautiful structures.
We want your help!
Do you have any requests or ideas that you would like to see us cover in this history newsletter?
What about cool old photos or stories of your own?
Let us know and we’ll include them in future newsletters.
After news earlier this week that Dorothy Lane Market is progressing on its new location in Mason, a reader wrote in to ask if we had any more information about the grocery store’s history. Last August, we published a story about DLM’s 75th anniversary.
• Click here for our story: Dorothy Lane Market turns 75: From fruit stand to gourmet grocery chain
And if you like what you’re getting each week in the Vintage Dayton newsletter, please consider subscribing to the Dayton Daily News for as little as 99 cents.
Thank you for reading.
