The 8 names behind Dayton's best known attractions
By Amelia Robinson
Staff writer
What in a name? Well, a lot actually.
There are tons of places in the Dayton area that we are on first name basis with -Â the Fraze, Hara, etc.
But what about the people behind those celebrated local attractions?
We take a look at some of the people who gave some of the Miami Valley's most well-known places their names.
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Hara Arena
The Hara Arena Complex gets its name from the first names of founding brothers Harold and Ralph Wampler.
The Wampler Ballarena dance hall was built in 1956 and is part of what is now Hara's six-building complex.
A variety of festivals, sporting events, dances, shows and conventions like Hamvention are held at the complex. -
The Fraze
Opened in 1991, Fraze Pavilion is named after pop-top aluminum can inventor Ermal Fraze.
Marvin Hamlisch was the first to perform at the 4300-seat, City of Kettering-owned amphitheater. Hundreds have performed since. -
Cox Arboretum
James M. Cox, Jr. ( aka "Jim Jr."), the son of Cox Enterprises founder James M. Cox, began buying the land that would eventually be Cox Arboretum in 1952.
He and his then-wife Helen named it "Spring Running."
When his father died in 1957, Cox, Jr. took control of Cox Enterprises, which included Dayton Daily News, WHIO and more recently, Dayton.com. The title of Spring Running was transferred to the James M. Cox, Jr. Arboretum Foundation in 1962.
It was cared for by a list of volunteers that included Jean Mahoney, Jean Woodhull, Marie Aull and Ruth Burke. The foundation gave the Arboretum to Five Rivers MetroParks in 1972. -
Glen Helen
Hugh Taylor Birch had an affinity for what is now Glen Helen.
He grew up playing in the glen and attended Antioch College in the 1900s, according to the Yellow Springs News.
In 1929, at at the urging of Antioch graduate Lucy Morgan, the Chicago lawyer donated the wooded glen to Antioch College in memory of his daughter Helen Birch Bartlett, who had died in 1925.
Glen Helen Ecology Institute at Antioch College manages the 1,000 acre nature preserve and outdoor education center located in Yellow Springs.
READ:Â Deal places Glen Helen under permanent protection plan
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The Boonshoft
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery draws its name from Oscar Boonshoft, one of the Miami Valley’s major philanthropists.
What is now the Boonshoft started in 1893 as a part of the Dayton Public Library and Museum. It transformed into the Dayton Museum of Natural History in 1952 and merged with the Children's Museum of Dayton in 1996, becoming the Dayton Museum of Discovery, according to the museum's website.Â
The museum's name was changed to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in 1999 to honor Boonshoft, a friend of it and many other nonprofits. The New York native donated more than $60 million to the local causes before his death in 2010.
He was a project engineer at Wright Patterson Air Force base for more than 30 years and later engaged in speculative trading of commodity futures contracts.
Other Dayton area institution named in Boonshoft's honor include the Marjorie and Oscar Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education, the Boonshoft Center for Medical Sciences at Kettering College of Medical Arts and the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. -
The Nutter Center
Wright State University's basketball stadium, concert venue and convention center is named for a local businessman, engineer, inventor and philanthropist Ervin J. Nutter, who donated $1.5 million for the construction of the facility in 1986. Â
Incidentally enough, Nutter earned money for his studies at the University of Kentucky working as a electrician. UK Basketball Coach Adolph Rupp paid him $2 a game to make sure lights at Alumni Gymnasium stayed on.
Nutter opened the an aerospace industry company -- Elano Corporation -- in Xenia in 1950. The company was sold to General Electric in 1985.
The Nutter Center held its first event on December 1, 1990. -
Aullwood
Animal and plant lover Marie Aull donated 70 acres of land in 1957 for the creation of the National Audubon Society's first nature center in the Midwest.
Considered the "godmother of the environmental movement in southwestern Ohio," Aull helped found Garden Club of Dayton in 1922, according to her Five Rivers MetroPark's profile.
Aullwood Audubon Center and Farms' six miles of hiking trail includes forest, prairie, marsh and pond. More than 80,000 visit it annually. -
The Schuster
The region's premiere theaters draws its name from a pioneer in Dayton cardiology and his wife.
Benjamin and Marian Schuster Center for the Performing Arts is on the site of the former Rike’s department at Second and Main streets in downtown Dayton. The Schusters were major donors to the center, which opened in 2003.
The Benjamin & Marian Schuster Heart Hospital at Kettering Medical Center and the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Hall in Wright State University’s Creative Arts Center also bear the now-deceased couple's names.