Restored Wright Cycle Co. building at 22 S. Williams St.

Over the last 15 years, the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park has attracted national recognition, park service personnel, and resources to tell the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the community’s aviation heritage, and the Dayton Poet Laureate Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Creating and managing a national park here has been a challenge, says Aviation Trail Inc. President Marvin Christian. It embraces four geographically separated sites: The Wright Cycle Company and the Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial, both in Dayton; the Huffman Prairie Flying Field on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the Wright Brothers Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park in Kettering. Three were already under private, state or federal management, so forging them into a national park has required a partnership approach.

The park itself follows the trailblazing work of ATI. NPS’s first major step was to acquire the Wright Cycle Company building at 22 S. Williams St. from ATI, which had saved it from the wrecking ball in the early 1980s. The Park Service restored the building to its 1895-97 ambience while developing 1890s-era displays of bicycling and cycling products.

Next, the NPS bought the Hoover Block at the corner of West Third and Williams and renovated it as the Wright Cycle Company Complex. More than a quarter-million park visitors have visited the center since it opened in 2003, according to ATI.

The park’s third major building focus was the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center, built on Wright Brothers Hill in cooperation with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The center tells the story of the Wrights’ flight testing on Huffman Prairie Flying Field and the continuing advanced aeronautical research at the air base.

NPS has also forged partnerships with the Ohio Historical Society to include Dunbar’s home as a park site, and with Dayton History to include the original 1905 Wright Flyer III, which is on display at Carillon Historical Park.

“To accomplish so much in only 15 years is truly indicative of the park’s spirit to fully tell this important aviation story,” Christian said.

The Trailblazer banquet commemorates Wilbur Wright’s birth on April 16, 1867. The Trailblazer Award recognizes an organization or individual who has furthered aviation in the greater Miami Valley. Awardees have included large and small aerospace companies as well as individuals whose time and resources are focused on aviation-related pursuits.

Reservations for the event are $40 and are due April Monday, April 9. Write checks to Aviation Trail, Inc. and mail them to P.O. Box 622, Wright Brothers Branch, Dayton, OH, 45409. Please indicate your choice of entrée (beef, chicken, or vegetarian).

Aviation Trail Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation formed in 1981 to preserve and promote the Dayton/Miami Valley area’s unique aviation heritage and to stimulate economic development by encouraging tourism.