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Saving 1st Bike Shop
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chuck smith
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Feb 28, 2009 09:13 PST
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League Friends,
Check out the story which ran in Tuesday's Dayton Daily News, then went
out over the Associated Press and ran in the Chicago Tribune, Columbus
Dispatch and other newspapers:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/02/23/ddn022409bike.html
Please let me know if the story ran in your local paper.
Amanda Wright Lane, great grand niece of Orville Wright, called me in
November seeking the support of the Ohio cycling community to save the
building at 1005 West Third Street in Dayton. The young Orville and
Wilbur Wright in 1892 rented the first story of this building as their
first bicycle shop.
Of the Wright brothers' five bicycle shops, only this one and the
restored fourth shop, now open to the public by the National Park
Service as part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park, remains
in Ohio. Henry Ford moved their fifth bicycle shop to Greenfield
Village, Michigan, and the buildings housing their second and third
shops have been torn down.
Partnering with Wright Dunbar, Inc. and other organizations, we have
submitted a proposal to attract the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame to this
building. Ten other communities have submitted proposals.
If the Hall does not accept our proposal, we may create a bicycle co-op
in the building, renting bicycles to those who participate in the
historical Ride with the Ranger rides starting at the Wright Dunbar
Interpretive Center. We could also offer League cycling training, and
open a restaurant in the building. The building may be a future home
of offices for the Dayton Cycling Club and Ohio Bicycle Federation. Jim
Sheehan has been successful with the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in
Cleveland.
Donations to save the building may be sent to Wright Dunbar, Inc., 1105
W. Third St., Dayton OH 45402 by May 1, 2009. Wright Dunbar is a
non-profit created to save the buildings of the Wright-Dunbar Historic
Area where Orville and Wilbur Wright and Dayton poet Paul Lawrence
Dunbar lived.
Chuck Smith
League Life Member
LCI #1209
Chair, Ohio Bicycle Federation
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