New, self guided audio walking tours in 11 of Dayton’s most historic neighborhoods promise to bring the city’s history to life.
Here’s how it works. Log on to preservationdayton.com. Click on Walking Tours and then pick a historic Dayton neighborhood, like Grafton Hill, South Park, or the Oregon District.
Make your way to the starting point in that neighborhood. And then just start the audio on your smartphone and begin your tour.
Monica Snow is the President of Preservation Dayton. She says Dayton has avoided the fate of cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis, which have lost large swaths of their historic districts to misguided city planning efforts.
“Almost every one of these neighborhoods was going to be leveled under urban renewal, which was the primary planning process back in the 70s," she says. "So there were a lot of early, early leaders in the late 70s and 80s who really tried to change what was then a predominant national policy. We are very fortunate here in Dayton."
The audio walking tours are full of moments of history, and information about the people who built the neighborhood’s architecture.
And if you can’t make the walking tours in person, there are photographs provided on Preservation Dayton website that you can view as you listen to the audio.
But Snow says if you’re able, the best experience is found on the streets of Dayton’s historic neighborhoods.
