Lost Dayton Ohio History (Arcade, Steele, Library, Classic/Palace) 

I loved the old library downtown it was so beautiful, it should have been saved. My first library when I was a child was the one on Fifth Street. I miss the old Arcade, so many wonderful memories of when I was a child and my mother and I dressed up and she would take me there, I remember the smell of caramel corn. We would eat at the cafeteria that opened into the Arcade, I believe the store was McCroy's. One thing I remember was they had balloons hanging from the ceiling, you would pick one then they popped it and a paper inside told you how much an ice cream sundae would cost you. I am 73 and I do like so many elders, ride around town remembering what use to be. Dayton was so beautiful, it hurts to see what it has become.

Thank you for loving Dayton’s history and its current legacy. I am a native who lived most of my life within the Dayton City limits. Memories from what is the UD student area and NCR to the Five Oaks area and finally Shroyer Park fill me pride and sadness. I love watching!

Keep it up! I've been living in Los Angeles for the past 15 years and my wife and I are trying to buy a house in the Huffman District. Let's bring Dayton back! #restoratinDayton

Thanks for sharing this information! We need more people to invest time into our city and heritage like you've done here!

Very informative and interesting. Would love to see more of your video's. Very detailed. I love to see pictures and hear about past history. Keep up the great work.

Thank you so much! I lived in Dayton for my first 43 yrs. Great video and info! Be blessed, today and always! =)

Well done Andrew. Look forward to once again seeing your smiling face when things at Sinclair return to normal!

Andrew I loved your fact- finding information on the city of Dayton my home 🏠 town where I grew up and graduated from the Dayton Art institute one of Dayton's historic buildings and having lots of friends still living there one of my favorite places to still visit

I enjoyed the video! I'm related to Henry Brown, one of the early settlers of Dayton, so for genealogical reasons, I'd like to see you do a video of the early 1800s Dayton. I've enjoyed reading about the city history.

Fantastic job! Please create more!!

I really enjoyed this experience I've learned so much history about Dayton what made me more interested in our city is the age of my great grandmother she is 96 and was Bron in 1928. Thank you. I just wanted to know more about what and where she lived in her day.

Very good presentation, Andrew! So many memories of Dayton from back in the day. Regarding those two cinemas on West 5th Street... I remember walking from lower Riverdale (where I lived) to one of those cinemas to see a scary movie featuring Vincent Price titled "The Bat." I would go anywhere in town to see a good monster movie, including The Federation on Xenia Avenue (where I saw "The Spider") and The Sigma on Brown Street (where I saw the risque "Blonde in a White Car"). And, yes, I well remember the old public library on E. Third Street and I felt so grown up when the children's librarian in the basement told me I could finally use the adult library on the main level. Oh, and right across the street from the library (on E. Second Street) the wondrous Museum of Natural History (now the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery) was located and what a delight that was for an inner city kid! I could go on... Again, thanks for sharing these precious memories with those of us who remember way back when.

speaking of libraries, My favorite library I used to go to very often was the library on the corner of Salem and Niagara Street. Its no longer a public library. it would be nice to see a video on housing projects that were torn down and schools torn down. Every single school I went to was torn down. Van Cleve. Edison Valerie Elem, EJ Brown, and Colonel White High School. EJ Brown and Edison were rebuilt

Thanks!!!! I will be ordering the book online hopefully.

Hidden gems, very intresting!

I remember Leo the Lion on the front yard of Steele HS and the old library un Cooper Pasrk where I spent many and house during HS having to RUN inside at night to keep from being bombarded by Starling poop.

Great presentation; in regards to black businesses and entertainment being lost on fifth street I guess one could say de-segregation can come with unintended consequences. Andrew, have you did any similar presentations on daytons lost amusement parks like Lakeside park that was in Dayton off Gettysburg?

I went to a barber shop in ther Arcade and a seafood market in the Arcade dome, plus visited an apartment in the dome. So much talk over so many years about refurbishing but nothing has happened.

When entering the old library in Cooper Park you had to run to avoid being bombarded by starling poop!

awesome presentation, thank you!

I enjoyed this so much! I love learning about Dayton's history and I hope you'll do more videos like this one!

Well done! Thank you so much for your research and the quality of your presentation. Keep the videos coming. We can’t navigate the future effectively unless we understand our past.

Best regards from Brazil. I was an AFIT student and I still love Dayton.

Wow! What an interesting and informative site!

Thank you!❤️👍🏿🙏🏿

This was fantastic. I've been here for just four years and often consider what the city used to be. I'll share this with some of my neighbors and encourage them to follow along. Thanks for providing this.

What a great video, thank you.

I love learning about the history of Dayton and I have your book. Thank you for this clip!

Thank you for this video!

That is great work and you presented it so well. I grew up in Beavercreek and we often drove past the old soap factory and it never lost its smell. My father rented a spot in the building very close that had a large round entrance you would drive into to park. He called it the foundry. I believe it was 1970.

My whole family is from Dayton going back to the 1880s.

Quite the history lesson

Found out a lot of things I didn’t know wow great job

My hometown born and raised

My dad's family owned several businesses around E. Third and W. 5th / Linwood before the turn of the century. I would love to know more about the area. .

Great video! Love Dayton history!

Fantastic video!

Great book !

Great video! I was wondering if you had any knowledge of The Paris Store? I have a great sale add from it and have found a few photos. I also know the it was next door the The Mayfair.

YAYAY, Yes, do more!!!

Please do a discussion on Kossuth Colony...

As someone who has lived on W.P.A.F.B, it has seen its been days, you could see F15,F16,F4,A10,KC135 sitting on the tarmac, then when Clinton started to close bases most of it left, personally I think the space command headquarters should be established their

thanks! l appreciate the info.

Thank you for sharing! My 5th great grandmother was Mary Van Cleve. Do you know where I might find information on her and that family? You mentioned Benjamin Van Cleve in the beginning of your video. Just wondering if you knew more about them.

be so nice if those 63 businesses were still around on 5th.

I remember Steeke HS and Leo the Lion quite well.

937 🙏🏾

I've just painted this place the last 8 months

👍🏾

The name of the video has my name in there it shows steele my name is steele

"In 1960 95% of Dayton's african american population lived in West Dayton." I guess some things never change, eh?

How about trotwood? How it was as good or better than oak wood. And how it is now lol. Great video.

Born and raised in Columbus, Dayton has so much deeper and richer history. I would put it up against any U.S. city for historical background. It's biggest flaw by far though is it's current nearly total control of jobs by the Catholic Church and the Catholic University of Dayton. Truly evil.

Born and raised in Dayton Ohio, very segregated City

THATS. TERRIBLE. ALL THOES GOOD BOOKS.

Thank you Andrew! Well done. I'm looking forward to seeing more videos about Dayton history.