The old Montgomery County Court house is being transformed into a museum ahead of a NATO delegation coming to Dayton on Memorial Day weekend.
Titled “Dayton Around the World,” the exhibit will feature a curated collection of original and replica documents, including the Wright Brothers’ groundbreaking innovations in aviation, historic photographs, and a variety of geologic and fossil specimens discovered in the Miami Valley.
The exhibit will be open throughout the 2025 NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session, and will remain accessible to the public from May 27-29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
MORE: See all WYSO's coverage of the 2025 NATO Parliamentary Assembly
The courthouse’s first floor will be open for tours and equipped with public restrooms for visitors.
This announcement was made April 24 on the steps of the old courthouse. In attendance were U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Dayton), Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims, Jr., Montgomery County Commissioners Judy Dodge and Mary McDonald, Dayton History President and CEO Brady Kress, and Dayton Society of Natural History President and CEO Tracey Tomme, which runs the Boonshoft Museum.
"The museum started at the library downtown back in the 1800s. So our collections were saved from the flood because they were on the top level," Tomme said. "It's nice to bring some of them back downtown."
Turner sees it as another opportunity to highlight Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and its more than 38,000 military and civilian employees who contribute ational security.
"Their work is important, it strengthens our country and Ohio, and make our nation and our allies stronger every day," Turner said. "There are businesses throughout Ohio that also contribute to that overall work."
The courthouse will also house artifacts on loan from the Truman and Clinton Presidential Libraries, historical items from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and images of the Dayton Peace Accords, signed in 1995 to end the Bosnian War.
McDonald said she is excited to show off Dayton’s national and global contributions.
"And for these individuals to come here, and to take part in seeing all the things that the Ketterings have done, NCR, many of these companies that have really touched all over the world — it's going to be significant for us," McDonald said.
