Ten things worth knowing about Oakwood

Oakwood covers about 2.2 square miles on the hill south of Dayton, and almost every one of them has a story attached. Here are ten worth knowing, each one something you can go and see, or at least stand near.

1. The first Town of Oakwood fizzled

In 1872 four men, Haas, Mitchell, Dixon and Harman, platted a settlement called Oakwood with 94 home lots. Few houses went up and the plan was soon abandoned. A historical marker in front of the City Building at 30 Park Avenue now tells their story, unveiled for the 150th anniversary of those first homes. The real growth came later, when the streetcar line reached Five Points in 1895 and pulled houses up the hill. Oakwood finally incorporated as a village in 1908, with 67 homes, and became a city in 1931.

2. The flood made the hill

The 1913 Dayton flood wrecked much of low-lying Dayton, and developers were quick to point out that Oakwood sat well above downtown. Demand for homes on the hill rose sharply. The city's history page adds that Oakwood engineers, working after the flood, helped develop levee and flood control systems later used in other river towns.

3. Orville Wright lived here for 34 years

Hawthorn Hill, at Park and Harman avenues, was finished in 1914 for Orville, his sister Katharine and their father, Bishop Milton Wright. Wilbur helped plan it but died of typhoid in 1912. Orville built his own inventions into the house, including a shower, a rainwater storage system and a central vacuum. After his death in 1948 it served NCR as a corporate guesthouse for decades. It is now a National Historic Landmark owned by Dayton History, and tours run by shuttle from Carillon Historical Park in Dayton.

4. The library carries the Wright name for a reason

Orville joined the Oakwood library board in the 1930s and gave money to the campaign for the bond issue that voters approved in 1937. The Wright Memorial Public Library opened at 1776 Far Hills Avenue in February 1939, in a park named for Katharine Wright, and the Oakwood Garden Club suggested the name to honor all three siblings. Their portraits hang in the south reading room, and the building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

5. A playhouse went to war

The Runnymede Playhouse, built in 1927 on the Talbott family estate near West Dixon Avenue and Runnymede Road, had a ballroom, a stage and indoor tennis and squash courts. During World War II it became Unit IV of the Dayton Project, where nearly 90 people worked on polonium for atomic weapons. The building was taken down in 1950 and its remains buried in Tennessee. Houses stand on the site today.

6. Police officer and firefighter are the same job

In 1924 Oakwood combined police and fire under one command, and its first officers were called wardens. The city says its Public Safety Department is one of only about 32 fully consolidated police and fire departments in the country.

7. The city shovels the sidewalks

Oakwood's public works crews clear snow from public sidewalks as well as streets, and trash and recycling are still collected from the back door. Each fall the city collects leaves everywhere and turns them into mulch, more than 9,500 cubic yards of leaves in 2022, which it hands back to residents in spring.

8. Scouts and soapboxes

The city counts Oakwood's Troop 101 among the first troops chartered by the Boy Scouts of America, and local tradition holds that the Cub Scouts' blue and gold were borrowed from Oakwood High School's colors. The city also says the first Soap Box Derby took place in Oakwood.

9. A whole neighborhood is on the National Register

Schantz Park, about 400 homes on the city's north side, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a single district, the only one in Oakwood. Its houses show off the architectural styles of the early 1900s, and a marker at the southeast corner of Oakwood and East Schantz avenues explains the district.

10. Some traditions last for generations

The Oakwood Historical Society's Long-Romspert House at 1947 Far Hills was begun in 1863 and stayed with one family until it was given to the society in 1985. On Far Hills, The Oakwood Florist at 2313 has been arranging flowers since 1950. On Park Avenue, Ashley's Pastry Shop has been family-owned since 1982, and its sand tart cookies are a familiar Oakwood treat. A few doors along at 45 Park Avenue, a sidewalk marker recalls Oakwood's first free-standing public library; the address is now home to The Little Exchange, a gift shop whose proceeds go to Dayton Children's Hospital, to which it says it has given more than $2 million since 1950. At the south end of the shopping district, the family-owned Dorothy Lane Market has kept its Oakwood store open since 1953.

This year Oakwood added a new chapter of its own: in January 2026 City Council made Oakwood an official America 250 community, with a committee that brings together the city, the historical society, the library and Green Oakwood. Ten facts is only a start; the historical society's self-guided tour, free to print from its website, will take you to most of these places in an afternoon.