Dayton, Ohio:
How Did the Wright Brothers Get to Work?

Introduction

As I write this, President George W. Bush and thousands of others are in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flights. But after those flights, the Wrights never flew again at Kitty Hawk. After returning to Dayton, Ohio, they found a place closer to home where they could refine and test their flying machines, to make them more practical. That place was a cow pasture outside of Dayton, known as Huffman Prairie after the man from whom they rented it.

Huffman Prairie was about ten miles east of town. How did the Wrights get there, in the days when automobiles were still a novelty? They rode a trolley! The line that ran past their new "flying field" was built in 1900 by the Dayton, Springfield & Urbana Railway, which was purchased in 1906 by the Indiana Columbis & Eastern Traction Company. In 1929, the Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railroad took over the line and operated it until abandonment in 1939. I suppose one might call this the first rail transit link to an airport! :-)

Other Sites

• Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
• The official Centennial of Flight web site, which includes a picture that shows a trolley car behind a crowd of spectators who are watching an exhibition at Huffman Prairie, shortly after the Wright Flying School opened in 1910.