ABOUT THIS SERIES
The Journal-News is highlighting Hamilton’s 17 unique neighborhoods in conjunction with the city’s 17Strong Initiative. The Journal-News will highlight a different Hamilton neighborhood’s history and current community on the Thursday Hamilton page once a month. Your stories, memories, and photographs are welcome. Email items to vivienne.machi@coxinc.com.
There is one incentive to living in Dayton Lane that many of its residents agree upon: the pride and pleasure of living in a historically preserved house and neighborhood.
While much of Hamilton is moving past its industrial past to compete with the demands of the 21st century economy, a drive down Dayton Street past the arched entryway either on S. Erie Boulevard or Fifth Street would convince a visitor that they had stepped back in time to the early 20th century, with ornate Victorian and Prairie-style homes kept in prime condition.
Hamilton historian Jim Blount describes Dayton Lane — one of three Hamilton neighborhoods placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in 1985 — as “a turn-of-the-century neighborhood northeast of downtown Hamilton,” centered along a six-block section of Dayton Street and bounded by the railroad tracks along N. Fifth Street to the west, to Erie Highway (Ohio 4) to the east and from High Street north to Buckeye Street.
“Victorian architecture dominates the neighborhood, which was built from the 1870s through the early 1900s by some of Hamilton’s business, industrial and civic leaders of that era,” he wrote in an email to the Journal-News.
Though settlement on the land later known as Dayton Lane is recorded as far back as 1835, it was sparsely populated through the 1860s when the land was known as Shillito’s Subdivision, according to records kept by the Butler County Historical Society. But it really began to take shape in the late 1800s as when industry “was really booming in Hamilton,” said resident and Dayton Lane Historic District President Dan Graham.
“This was where the big factory owners began to build their homes,” he said. “They were close to their factories, they built homes for their management, so it was an upper class neighborhood.”
Jennifer Albinus said she and her husband, Gerhard, had been married about seven years when they decided to move to Hamilton from West Chester Twp. about 16 years ago.
“We both always liked old houses, and we just fell in love with this one,” she said, adding that their home was one of the only Prairie-style houses in the district.
The neighborly feel of Dayton Lane has kept them in the district, though. Albinus remembers fondly the neighborhood Fourth of July celebration in 2002.
“The Historic District got together and had a picnic at the gazebo, and the next day we had a huge party in one of the neighbor’s backyard,” she said. “And I just remember so many people commenting on how unusual it was to know your neighbors like that and be with them on the Fourth of July.”
Albinus said that she was looking forward to the new improvements to Hamilton’s parks, which would hopefully include Campbell Avenue Park.
“I do hope for more improvements for children,” she said. She said her 14-year-old son and other neighborhood children would benefit from having a playground nearby, as the closest playground is at least four blocks away on Heaton Street.
Every other year, the Dayton Lane Historic Area hosts the May Promenade Home Tour, during which the district’s streets are blocked off to car traffic to make way for horse-drawn carriages and authentic big-wheel bicycles. Several historic homeowners welcome attendees into their era-accurate abodes while dressed in the height of 19th century fashion.
“It’s a nice reward for us,” Graham said, adding that he has opened his own home up to the event in previous years. “The biggest reward is just having a nice home and be able to live in it and be able to take care of it.”
The Dayton Lane Historic Area will hold their annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 5 at the Hamilton City Schools Board of Education Office, 533 Dayton St., and will feature a presentation reviewing the history of Dayton Lane that is open to the public and a recap of the area’s activities during the past year.
About the Author