The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-03-28
r4EI cry Of 0AyFoN p

Dayton, o., made famous by the
Wright brothers, is the county seat
of Noptgomery county and is situat-
ed at the confluence of the Great Mi
ami and Mad rivers and Saltwater
and Wolf creeks. 1t is on the Erie,
1.-THE Dayton and Union, the Pittsburg,
Cincinnati, Chicago and ST. Louis
and Big Four railroads, and Cincin-
natl, Hamilton and Dayton railroads.
1t is 81 miles southwest OF Columbus.
GO miles north of Cincinnati. There
are over 125 trains leaving the city
daily. The population of the city in
1910 was 1857. The union station
was opened to the public in July,
1900, and cost, including tracks
100000. The city has an area of
1915 square miles.
The city has a municipal form of
government with mayor and coun-
Gil. The city had an excellent water
works system and the water was Of
absolute purity, The city has a well
equipped fire department and COM
plete system of surface and under
ground sewers The city is the bank
ing center of the district, there being
in 1904 seven national banks and two
savings and trust companies Day
ton is one Of the foremost cities in
building associations in the country;
the large number of the 10000 or
more homes in the city were built
with the aid OF these associations.
There were II associations with ag-
gregate authorized capital of s49,-
100000.
While Dayton's manufacturing in
dustries are widely diversified and in
clude the manufacture of cash regist-
ers, railroad cars, water-wheels, agri-
cultural implements, sewing-machin-
es, foundry works and so forth, these
are conducted on so large a scale
that many establishments employ
from 500 to $500 hands. potent
force in the development of Dayton
has been the traction lines, of which
the city has more than any other
city in the state. There are nine
lines radiating in all directions. and
with a total mileage of over 400
miles. The city electric lines Of
which there are three, cover the
town in all directions with about rs
miles of track.
The public school system of the
city has long enjoyed a reputation of
being one of the very best in the mid
die West. Besides the ordinary pub
| lie schools there is normal school,
manual training school and a
school for the deaf There are sew
eral Roman Catholic and Lutheran
parochial schools supplementary to
the public institutions. The Catho-
| lies have three colleges and seminar
| les and there are four business col
leges, the oldest of which, Miami col
lege. was founded in 1860. The I'm
| ion Biblical seminary is the training
college of the United Brethren of the
United States and a successful arts
and crafts society is doing excel
lent work. There are 80 churches in
the city besides the Young Mems
and Young Women's Christian as
ISOLATION and the woman's league.
Dayton had the first library in The
state, one having been incorporated
in 1905. The public library, support
ed by taxation, was opened in 1855
There are five daily papers, each Of
! which has also a weekly edition, and
II church and other publications
The city hospitals include the st
Elizabeth hospital, the Miami Valley
hospital and the Protestant hospital
which has a large central building
known as the Patterson memorial o.
operative surgery, one of the mos
complete buildings for its purpose il
the United States. The Dayton
state hospital for the insane is main
tanned by the state. The hospital o.
the national military home which ad
( joins the city, is the largest military
hospital in the world and has an av
erage of 900 patients, all of whom are
veterans of the civil or Cuban wars
The history of the town began in
1895. when it was laid out by Gen
Israel Ludlow and was named after
Gov. Jonathan Dayton. The first set
tiers arrived in the spring of the fol
| lowing year. Situated in the Miami
valley, one of the most fertile valleys
in the United States. Dayton has
grown to be the third largest manu-
featuring center in the state of Ohio
With its industries so diversified, its
banks and its building associations
so strong and so uniformly success
full and with its people so well educat
ed. it is one of the richest and most
I prosperous cities in the Union.
According to the New York Sun
New Workers familiar with Dayton
said that the levee, which is strongly
built of gravel, has an average hight
Of about 20 feet through the main
part of the town. II is over IL feet
across the top and about S5 feet
broad at the base. II is wide enough
to allow carriages to go along its tor
The levee ceases along some parts Of
the course of the Miami river. This
river, which cuts the town in two. is
approximately $50 feet broad at mos
of the points within Dayton. 1t would
have to rise more than 20 feet tC
overflow the levee. Wolf creek,
tributary on the west. has heretofor,
caused most of the trouble from
foods.
North Dayton has usually been tn,
section most damaged in previous in
undations.lt lies at a wide bend il
the river. Central Dayton is dow
on a fiat. The highest region is oc
cupied by East Dayton. The popula
ton is well distributed in detached
houses, with no congestion. Dayton
is situated in the valley on the cas-
bank of the Miami river at its june
ton with Mad river. To the north Il
low region through which vas
quantities of water might pour dowI
and wreck terrible destruction.
One of the principal avenues OF tn,
city is the Boulevard. which is bull
| on land made from the Miami rivet