The Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library has produced an important
Internet exhibit of some of their extraordinary collection of Wright brothers’ materials.Valuable for the casual visitor and the serious researcher alike, the web collection offers rare and unique materials that illuminate the Wrights' place in aviation history and in the hearts and minds of their fellow Daytonians.
This essay focuses on two components of their lives and careers, both
of which are well documented in the collection.One is the Ten Dayton
Boys Club, 1886-1939, and the other is the Wright Brothers' Home Days Celebration, June 17-18, 1909.These components, each significant in its own right, are connected, as are all materials in the collection, for they tell us about complementary aspects of the Wright brothers' lives and their connection with the people and events around them.
In 1886, ten young men from West Dayton decided to form a club, whose
membership was limited only to them and whose objective was to maintain
for life the fast friendships that had been formed among them (The Minutes
of the Ten Dayton Boys Club, 1886-1939).Included in its ten members
were the three oldest Wright brothers: Reuchlin, Lorin and Wilbur.
Wilbur was 19 and the youngest member of the Club.At 15, Orville
was considered too young for membership.Ironically, Wilbur would
be much closer to Orville than to either of his older brothers Reuchlin
and Lorin.
The Club met formally once a year, usually in the fall, when an elaborate
dinner would be served.The minutes of the meeting would include the members attending and their occupation.Dinner menu would be described and any information relating to the members would be included. The passage of each year collapses into the meeting for that year, which affords, as it were, a fast-frame view of the passage of time.
Each year the reader can glimpse how life unfolded for the Club members.
Wilbur's occupation changes as the printer and bicycle maker gives way
to inventor and "bird man."Club members sometimes brought girl friends
to the annual dinner, and one by one we can see the young men grow into
maturity, marry and take up new responsibilities.
In 1909 the Club members were official hosts for the Wright Brothers'
Home Days Celebration.Three years later, the same members wrote a moving tribute to Wilbur, as these neighborhood friends of his youth reveal the love and esteem they held for their youngest member, who was also the first to die.
The Club continues to chart the march of time for the members, and one by one the "boys" pass away until only two remain, an ailing Lorin Wright and Ed Ellis.With the death of Lorin in 1939, the Club minutes end.
The pride which the Ten Dayton Boys Club members held in Wilbur's and, by extension, Orville's accomplishments, reached a zenith during the homecoming celebration on June 17-18, 1909.By this time Dayton, the nation and world had finally realized what the Wrights had accomplished.
In January, 1909, Orville and sister Katharine arrived in France to
join Wilbur, who had been in Europe since the previous June, thrilling
the continent with his flying, setting speed and attitude records, and
establishing himself as the worlds foremost aviator.Orville was
still recovering from serious injuries suffered on Sept. 17, 1908 during
a demonstration flight at Ft. Myer, Virginia of the military flyer which
the brothers, had built for the U.S. Army Signal Corps.That flight
ended in a crash which killed Orville's passenger, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge
(see Postcards, p. 7).While Orville was at this time in Wilbur's
shadow, a January 4 newspaper article by Dayton reporter George Burba,
based on a visit to the Wright home just before Orville and Katharine left
for Europe, reports not the slightest bit of envy on Orville's part (Scrapbook
1, p. 23).
By the end of April, the Wrights (Wilbur, Orville and Katharine) had
decided it was time to go home.Following Orville's crash the U.S.
Army had granted Wilbur and Orville a year's extension for the delivery
of an aircraft meeting the specifications of their contract.They
have until September to meet this requirement, and much work had to be
done.They sailed from London on May 4, and their ship entered New
York Harbor on May 11 accompanied by an armada of small boats and with
an enormous crowd waiting for them at the dock.
New York officials had originally planned to stage a major homecoming
celebration for the Wrights, and had invited President Taft to present
them with awards in a ceremony in New York.These awards were gold
medals from the Congress of the United States, the Smithsonian Institution
and the Aero Club of America.But Ohio Governor James M. Cox protested,arguing that the Wright Brothers' Home Days Celebration, being planned for June 17-18 in Dayton, would be a more appropriate occasion for this.
The Wrights settled the dispute by calling New York while at sea, explaining that they wished to return to Dayton as soon as possible to prepare for the Army trials at Fort Myer.In fact they really didn't want a large celebration in Dayton either.They would regard this as a distraction, taking them away from more important matters. But they would yield to public pressure.
The Wrights approached Dayton on Friday, May 13 hoping simply for a
quiet reunion with family and friends.When the train stopped at
Xenia, a few miles from Dayton, Ed Ellis (one of the Ten Dayton Boys) and
several other friends boarded the train to greet them and announced that
ten thousand people were waiting for them in Dayton.
The tumultuous welcome in Dayton included an all-day party and was only
the beginning.The next day, May 14, a newspaper article appeared
entitled, "Wright Brothers are Surprised and Pleased Over Warmth of Reception." (Scrapbook 1, p. 25) It starts out, "Never in its history has the
West Side witnessed a demonstration of the magnitude of that of Friday
evening, when an informal public welcome and reception was tendered Messrs.
Wilbur and Orville Wright, the peerless aeronauts, in honor of their return
to their home city."It goes on to describe the crowds of people,
and the decoration of the Wright residence at 7 Hawthorn Street and of
Hawthorn Street itself.While in today's vernacular much of this
would be called "hype," it does show the pride and warmth evinced by their
neighborhood and attests to the then close-knit community that was West
Dayton.On the same day, the mayor and a delegation from City Hall
visited the Wrights to outline plans for the official celebration planned
for June 17-18.
Over the next five weeks Wilbur and Orville spent every moment they
could spare working on the airplane that would be flown at Fort Myer, trying to ensure that the rear-disaster that befell Orville at the first demonstration on September 17 of the previous year would not occur again.
One trip they could not avoid in that interval was to Washington, D.
C.Unable to attend the Dayton celebration later that month, President
Taft had invited the Wrights to come to the White House on June 10 to accept the medal from the Aero Club of America.Their train arrived in Washington on the morning of the tenth and they spent a full day of business and ceremony in the nation's capital.After meeting with Brigadier General James Allen, Chief of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Orville and Wilbur were escorted to the Cosmo Club, where a gala luncheon was scheduled in their honor. Sister Katharine, who had accompanied her brothers to Washington, was already there.In her honor, the Cosmo Club had suspended its "men only" rule.At the award ceremony later that afternoon in the East Room of the White House, President Taft made a brief speech in which he said of the Wright brothers, "You made this discovery by a course that we in America feel is distinctly American, by keeping your nose right at the
job until you had accomplished what you had determined to do."
Upon their return to Dayton the next day, the Wrights were caught up in the final preparations for the official homecoming celebration.
On June 13 there appeared a newspaper article entitled, "Father Wright
Tells About Wilbur and Orville as Children and as Men."(Scrapbook
1, p. 32).In the article, credit is given to the New Castle (Indiana)
Times, for which Bishop Wright wrote the account during a recent visit
to his former home.This article gives interesting accounts of the
brothers' early years, including information not readily found elsewhere,
such as Wilbur's sporting accident that caused him lingering health problems
and prevented him from pursuing a college education.
A wonderfully detailed description of the homecoming celebration was published on June 16, the eve of the festivities (Scrapbook 1, p. 43). One feature being planned was a parade of illuminated motor cars, the first division being electric automobile while the second division would consist of steam- and gasoline-powered autos.
An interesting biographical sketch of Henry Kabierske, who was apparently
the designer of the city's magnificent displays and decorations, appears
on p. 27 of Scrapbook 1.This German immigrant, whose father was
decorator to Kaiser Wilhlelm of Germany, also designed anniversary pageants
in Nashville (Tenn.), Omaha (Neb.), New York City and Philadelphia, as
well as the Queen's jubilee in London.This underscores that the
Dayton celebration was a first-class event.
The great celebration included receptions, spectacular parades, band
concerts, and fireworks featuring pyrotechnic portraits of Wilbur and Orville,
intertwined with the flag, eight feet tall.At the award ceremony
at the Fairgrounds on June 18, Bishop Wright delivered the innovation.
His sons, clad in morning coats and top hats, received a gold Congressional
Medal from General Allen, a state gold medal from Governor Judson Harmon,
and a City of Dayton medal from Mayor Burkhardt.A gigantic "living
flag," composed of schoolchildren dressed in red, white and blue, topped
off the festivities with a serenade.That evening the entire family
gathered at the grandstand on the corner of Monument Avenue and First Street
as guests of honor at the spectacular automobile parade and the closing
ceremony.
The Postcard section of the collection shows several scenes from the
homecoming: an elaborate parade down Main Street; decorated festooned columns
and office buildings; the "living flag" at the Fairgrounds; the view of
the night illumination and the crowds of celebrants.An official
program of the activities appears on page 58 of Scrapbook 1.
A newspaper article gives Wilbur Wright's speech at the award ceremony (Scrapbook 1, p. 81).Even though Wilbur would probably rather have been in his shop working on the military flyer, he nevertheless said the right things and said them very well.He states, "…It is sometimes said that inventors receive little encouragement in the early stages of their work.We have very little complaint to offer on this score. During our first trials we received offers of help from all quarters.
Just because we didn't find it necessary to accept the proffers of help is no reason why it did not show that the world is full of sympathy and willing to come forth to encourage whatever is right and useful. Even today if $1,000,000 could secure another Tennyson or Shakespeare, the money would be forthcoming.The trouble is not due to the heart of the world, but rather to the machinery, which it is necessary to first put in operation."
Epilogue
On July 27 at Fort Myer the Wright airplane, with Orville at the controls,
passed its flying test for the Army.On August 2 the United States
officially accepted the airplane, marking the first flying machine purchased and put into service by any government.
On May 21, 1910 at Huffman Prairie, Wilbur made his last flight as a
pilot in the United States.Four days later, on May 24, Bishop Milton
Wright made his only flight, as Orville's passenger.On the same
day, Wilbur and Orville flew together for the first and only time, with
Orville piloting.It had long been a policy of the brothers not to
fly together, so that in case of an accident at least one would remain
to carry on their work.Wilbur died in 1912, and within a decade
Orville would retire from aviation, even though he would live until 1948
and become a legend in his own time.
This biographical scetch is written by Elli Bambakidis,
Archivist, and Jeanne Palermo, previous Director of Curatorial Services at Carillon
Historical Park.
For comments on this essay write to Elli Bambakidis
at: history@daytonmetrolibrary.org