One of them was Dayton native Charles Francis Jenkins, and there’s a very good argument to be made that he did as much as anyone to drive the technology that would become home television.
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For this edition of Vintage Dayton, we went into the archives for the story of Jenkins and his inventions that advanced the ability to see moving pictures on any screen.
• TODAY’S FEATURED STORY: Was television invented by a native Daytonian? The life and work of Charles Francis Jenkins
More on Dayton inventions
• 13 things you might not have known were invented in Dayton
• 10 inventors who changed the world from the Dayton region
• Meet Ermal Fraze, Dayton’s pop-top inventor and namesake of Fraze Pavilion
Did you know?
Here are a few great Dayton history facts we’ve learned from our stories:
• Officials once had to order fish from Iowa to restock waters for area fishermen
One of the largest deliveries came by train in 1936.
• There has long been a Dayton urban legend about the mysterious Betty Lane and a hidden factory near the Dayton Mall
The legend usually involves a couple reaching a dark and secluded area where they are met on the road by armed, menacing workers who are unhappy that the teens discovered their factory.
• The most popular Halloween costumes of the 1960s included cowboys, astronauts, Cleopatra and Super Mouse
We found that in a review of Dayton Daily News ads through the decades for costumes.
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.
A reader wrote in recently to say they had seen a really cool photo on Facebook of Harry Houdini hanging upside down over downtown Dayton, and they wanted more information. What happened? What else did he do? We went back to a great story we previously wrote on Houdini’s visits to Dayton to share here.
• Click here for our story: Harry Houdini’s magical visits included needles, tricks and escapes
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.
