Engineers Club of Dayton | |
Location | 110 E. Monument Ave., Dayton, Ohio |
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Coordinates | 39°45′49″N84°11′27″W / 39.76361°N 84.19083°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Architect | Schenck, Harry I; Williams, Harry J. |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 07001091 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 17, 2007 |
The Engineers Club of Dayton was founded by Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Charles F. Kettering in Dayton, Ohio in 1914. The club's building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the club involves notable Daytonians and historical figures such as Orville Wright.
Members cited the status of Dayton as one of the leading industrial cities in the country in support of their formation of the club. The charter members of the Engineers Club were Edward A. Deeds, Charles F. Kettering, Frank Morrison Tait, H.B. Canby, Arthur E. Morgan, H.M. Williams, H.J. Williams, H.G. Dorsey, H.G. Kittredge, D.A. Kohr, Harry I. Schenck, J.H. Hunt, O.H. Hutchings, Oscar, Kressler, and F.O. Clements. On April 15, 1914, the charter members signed the articles of incorporation of the Engineers Club of Dayton. Deeds was elected the club's first president (1914–1915).
Through a connection of Kettering, the club was originally permitted to meet at a property owned by Delco Electronics located on the corner of Second and Madison streets in Dayton. As membership grew, the need for a new, permanent location became evident and a building committee, funded by Deeds and Kettering, planned the construction of the present location of the club on Monument Avenue.
On February 2, 1918, the club's new home, designed by the Dayton firm of Schenck & Williams, was dedicated in front of more than 300 members and guests. Commemorating the occasion, Orville Wright gave a rare public speech. He emphasized the responsibility of the membership, both present and future. Among the distinguished guests present at the event were Governor James M. Cox, Major J.G. Vincent and William B. Mayo. [2]
The first woman full member of the club was M. Elsa Gardner. [3]
On October 17, 2007, the Engineers Club of Dayton was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [4]
According to the articles of incorporation, the mission of the Engineers Club is to "foster the advancement of business, education, engineering and science, and to promote the professional development of its members."
The Engineers Club is a private, non-profit professional-association, overseen by a Board of Governors and operated by a Club Manager and staff. The Engineers Club Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to support education in engineering and business professions and the restoration and preservation of the historic Engineers Club of Dayton building. Donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.
The Engineers Club of Dayton is open to new members and offers "individual memberships, including special memberships for students and non-residents (outside the Miami Valley), as well as corporate and group memberships." [5]
The membership of the Engineers Club is currently primarily made up of professionals and academics throughout the Dayton area. The club holds lectures and other similar professional events throughout the year. In addition to such academic activities, the club frequently hosts social events for its members.
Financing for the club's operations comes through its endowed foundation, the Engineers Club Foundation, membership fees and food sales from the dining room, located within the Engineers Club building. Members are currently required to spend a certain amount on dining and social activities offered by the club within any given calendar year.
In addition to the sources of income already discussed, the Engineers Club earns operating revenue through renting various space within the club's historic facility for banquet services. From the club's website, the types of events for which the club is well suited include wedding receptions, showers, anniversaries, birthdays, tea parties, reunions, seminars, conferences, business meetings, awards dinners, presentations and other gatherings for 15-350 guests.
Dayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. As of the 2020 census, the city proper had a population of 137,644, making it the sixth-most populous city in Ohio. It anchors the state's fourth-largest metropolitan area, the Dayton metropolitan area, which had 814,049 residents. Dayton is located within Ohio's Miami Valley region, 50 miles (80 km) north of Cincinnati and 60 miles (97 km) west of Columbus.
Charles Franklin Kettering sometimes known as Charles Fredrick Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947. Among his most widely used automotive developments were the electrical starting motor and leaded gasoline. In association with the DuPont Chemical Company, he was also responsible for the invention of Freon refrigerant for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. At DuPont he also was responsible for the development of Duco lacquers and enamels, the first practical colored paints for mass-produced automobiles. While working with the Dayton-Wright Company he developed the "Bug" aerial torpedo, considered the world's first aerial missile. He led the advancement of practical, lightweight two-stroke diesel engines, revolutionizing the locomotive and heavy equipment industries. In 1927, he founded the Kettering Foundation, a non-partisan research foundation, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine in January 1933.
The bicycle business of the Wright brothers, the Wright Cycle Company successively occupied six different locations in Dayton, Ohio. Orville and Wilbur Wright began their bicycle repair, rental and sales business in 1892, while continuing to operate a print shop. These shops helped them fund their aeronautical studies.
Wright Brothers National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area's steady winds. They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers.
Edward Andrew Deeds was an American engineer, inventor and industrialist prominent in the Dayton, Ohio, area. He was the president of the National Cash Register Company and, together with Charles F. Kettering, founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), an early innovator in automotive technology. Deeds partnered with the Orville Wright in an early airplane manufacturing venture and led the military aircraft production effort in World War I.
Hawthorn Hill is the house that served as the post-1914 home of Orville, Milton and Katharine Wright. Located in Oakwood, Ohio, Wilbur and Orville Wright intended for it to be their joint home, but Wilbur died in 1912, before the home's 1914 completion. The brothers hired the prominent Dayton architectural firm of Schenck and Williams to realize their plans. Orville and his father Milton and sister Katharine occupied the home in 1914.
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, located at 118 Woodland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States.
Carillon Historical Park is a 65-acre park and museum in Dayton, Ohio, which contains historic buildings and exhibits concerning the history of technology and the history of Dayton and its residents from 1796 to the present. As a part of the University of Dayton, the historical elements of the park were the brainchild of Colonel Edward Deeds. The major sections include settlement, transportation, invention, and industry. The park also contains the Carillon Park Railroad, a 7+1⁄2 in gauge miniature railway.
Harold Elstner Talbott, Jr. was the third United States Secretary of the Air Force.
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio that commemorates three important historical figures—Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar—and their work in the Miami Valley.
Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured Delco Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, General Motors merged it with the AC Electronics division and it continued to operate as part of the Delco Electronics division of General Motors. When the corporation acquired the Hughes Aircraft Company, Delco was merged with it to form Hughes Electronics as an independent subsidiary.
The Charles F. Kettering House is a historic house on Ridgeleigh Road in Kettering, Ohio. Built in 1914, and reconstructed after a fire in 1995, it was the primary residence of inventor Charles F. Kettering, founder of Delco Electronics. The Tudor Revival house, also known as Ridgeleigh Terrace, was the first house in the United States with electric air conditioning using freon. The reconstructed house is now owned by Kettering Medical Center, which operates it as a conference center. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
The Landing Apartments is a historic structure located at 117 West Monument Street in Dayton, Ohio. It was designed by Schenck & Williams and added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1988.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church building in downtown Dayton, Ohio, United States. Constructed at the end of the nineteenth century for a new parish, it closed in 1996, but was reopened in 2001 when a Vietnamese Catholic group began to use the church. This church building remains significant because of its grand architectural elements, which have led to its designation as a historic site.
The Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum is an historic structure at 2335 Wayne Ave. in Dayton, Ohio. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1979.
Schenck and Williams was an architectural firm in Dayton, Ohio. The firm's projects included the Hawthorn Hill home for Orville Wright and his sister and father, the Dayton Young Men's Christian Association Building, and the Engineers Club of Dayton building. The firm's partners were Harry J. Williams and Harry I. Schenck, both 1903 Cornell University graduates and members of the American Institute of Architects Several other Cornell graduates including Nelson J. Bell (1904), Robert E. Schenck (1912), Albert R. Reilly (1914), Wolfe Marcovitch (1915), Leslie L. Lambert (1916), Ernst W. Kurz (1917) and Ellason R. Smith (1917) came to work for the firm.
The Graphic Arts Building is a historic commercial building on the edge of downtown Dayton, Ohio, United States. Built in the 1920s, it long housed the publishing house of a Protestant denomination, and it has been named a historic site.
Adele DeLeeuw was an American–Dutch children's story writer. The New York Times attributes more than 75 children's book to her.
Virginia Weiffenbach Kettering was Dayton, Ohio's leading philanthropist and patron of the arts.
The Jenet-Roetter House at 148 Squirrel Road in the Five Oaks District of Dayton, Ohio is a private home known as a notable example of Prairie School architecture made popular by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was designed by the Dayton architectural firm Schenck and Williams, which also designed the Wright Brothers home Hawthorn Hill, which is a National Historic Landmark open to the public.