And the MacGregor line of golf clubs.
Or the first Soap Box Derby race, held in Dayton in 1933.
Carillon Park — Dayton History’s home — offers something for nearly everyone, with a functioning railroad, a museum devoted to the Wright Brothers, a brewery, collections devoted to NCR cash registers and other formative local businesses, a carillon and more.
“It’s not a hall of fame,” Dayton History President and Chief Executive Brady Kress said of the planned sports center. “We don’t do halls of fame. These are anchor stories that wowed the world.”
A center dedicated to sports history would simply add to Carillon Park’s variety, in Kress’ view.
“The goal we have been striving for for years has been a outdoor museum experience that can be enjoyed year-round by all kinds of audiences, a place that people want to come back to, a place where folks are picking up educational tidbits and inspiration without really knowing they’re being inspired,” he said.
To have a sheltered performance stage has also been part of Kress’ master planning for a while. Saving a century-old barn from Riverside as part of that simply sweetens the deal, as far as Kress is concerned.
The barn’s owners approached Dayton History more than a year ago with the offer of an old timber bank barn from a farm they were selling, measuring 40 feet by 80 feet.
The owners wanted to know if Dayton History could use the barn. Eyeing a chance to build a permanent performance area, Kress knew the answer.
“I’m always trying to get rid of temporary tents and extension cords and cables and all of that,” he said. “If we can have something permanent built there, it would be a really great addition.”
Site and utility work are happening now. Kress estimates it will take an approximately $2 million investment.
Regarding the sports heritage center, Kress said he has not received quotes from contractors, but added that he expects it to be a multi-million-dollar addition to Carillon Park.
The 65-acre park is landlocked, hemmed in by the University of Dayton campus, the Great Miami River and Calvary Cemetery.
A south-reaching “panhandle” of Dayton History property reaches toward the former Neil’s Heritage House, which will become the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center.
A collection of NCR materials housed now in downtown Dayton will move to the former restaurant near the intersection of Schantz Avenue and Heritage Point Drive.
In June 2009, NCR announced it was moving its headquarters from Dayton to the Atlanta area.
In 2023, NCR changed its name to “NCR Voyix.” The company has divided in two, with one business focused on ATMs and another on online commerce.
Kress said the NCR Archive will be dedicated next spring.
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