Lost history: Dayton properties that were damaged or demolished in recent years

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

While there is hope for some at-risk historical properties in the Dayton area, not all properties can be saved. According to Preservation Dayton, a champion and advocate for the Dayton region’s historic communities and properties, preserving Dayton’s rich history is a tough challenge. Recent years seem to have been tougher than most, with demolition crews and fires taking away important parts of Dayton’s history.

Here is an alphabetical list of several historical properties in the Dayton area that have been lost or damaged in recent years.

Becker’s Market

860 Brown St.

Demolished in 2020.

Gem City Ice Cream Building

1005 W. Third St.

Credit: Photo: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Photo: Amelia Robinson

Built in the Late 1800s with additions through 1928, the Gem City Ice Cream Company, founded in 1901, manufactured some of the first commercial ice cream in Ohio. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The building, in Dayton’s Wright-Dunbar neighborhood, was demolished in 2022.

Alfred H. Iddings House

344 S. Main St.

Dr. Alfred H. Iddings was a well known physician who practiced medicine for 38 years in Dayton. The house was demolished in 2020.

Robert M. Nevin House

1802 E. 3rd St.

Robert Nevin was an attorney and three-term member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1901 to 1907. The house was demolished in 2020.

Roberts Hall, United Theological Seminary

1800 Harvard Blvd.

The building was on the site of the old 32-acre United Theological Seminary campus in the Dayton View Triangle Neighborhood. It was demolished in 2021 to make room for Omega Senior Lofts, which will offer independent living options for older residents.

Snediker House

105 Oxford Ave.

Credit: Chris Stewart

Credit: Chris Stewart

Judge Edward T. Snediker built this brick Georgian-style home in the Dayton View Historic District in 1905. Snediker died on Oct. 19, 1939. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Snediker was admitted to the bar in 1888. He served on the city Police Court in 1901 and moved to the Common Pleas Court in 1904. He remained on the bench for 32 years.

It was demolished in 2022.

St. Joseph School

400 E. 2nd St.

Demolished in 2020.

Benjamin Stoner House

2618 E. 3rd St.

Demolished in 2021.

Traxler mansion

42 Yale Ave., Dayton

Built in 1912 for Louis Traxler, this Flemish Chateauesque style building was added to the National Register of Historic Places individually in 1979 and again in 1984 as part of the Dayton View Historic District..

A fire destroyed much of this property in early 2023, however, a sheriff’s auction on the property was still scheduled for May 4.

Troy Tavern

112-118 W. Main St., Troy

Demolition was started in the rear of the building in 2023 but was halted by a court order.

The order restrains the owners from demolishing or otherwise removing any part of the structure unless otherwise directed by the court; to make temporary tarp repairs, if possible, to any building open air roof exposure; and reinstall three windows removed from south, east and west walls.

Wright Brothers Airplane Factory

99 Cowart Ave., Dayton

The Wright Brothers Airplane Factory is the oldest aircraft manufacturing building in the world and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The future of a historic building remains in doubt after a fire that burned much of the structure. The Wright Company factory buildings, which operated between 1910 and 1916, are significant because they were the birthplace of the American aviation industry, according to the National Park Service.

The hangars were later part of the former Delphi Home Avenue automotive complex, which closed in 2008.