Integrated Learning-Living Communities

Dayton is home to the first national park celebrating technological innovation rather than natural beauty. The seminal work of the Wright brothers — Wilbur (without the mustache) and his younger brother, Orville, is displayed on Third Street in west Dayton, and speaks not only to their critical role in making flight commercially viable, but also their earlier careers — running print shops and bike shops.

Of particular moment was them being the publishers of the first book by famed African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose last home in Dayton is also part of the tour, displaying, perhaps, more mundane innovations of the turn of the 19th century: flush toilets and gaslighting, Paul Laurence Dunbar provided the title for Tony Morrison’s book, “I know why a caged bird sings,” and also reinforced Dayton’s reputation as the Gem City, calling Dayton the ‘diadem’ of Ohio.