DAYTON — The city’s plan to restore the Wright Brothers’ former plane manufacturing site is taking flight.
News Center 7’s Mike Campbell spoke with city leaders and residents near the West Third Street location about the upcoming restoration work.
City leaders passed a plan at the commission meeting on Wednesday that allows for environmental testing on the site to make sure everything remains safe. However, it’s the work to restore the hangars where the plane was built that has everyone excited.
Steve Gondol said, “It has been a long process, but we’re really excited that we have all this underway.” He is the Director of the Department of Planning and Development for the city of Dayton.
The site consists of a half-dozen hangars that were used for the first mass production of airplanes in the early 1900s. Fire destroyed the roofing on a couple of the buildings in 2023.
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“So, we need to get that debris out of this so we can understand the condition of the hangers are in to allow us to plan with those partners and future reuses,” Gondol said.
He told News Center 7 the city has a contract for the work to begin, possibly in the next couple of weeks. That’s a huge step forward after the fire damaged much of the site in March 2023.
Willie Colston, who was at the library next door, said, “I thought they were just going to tear it down or just let it sit for a while.”
He’s glad that there is a plan to restore the hangars and show off Dayton innovation.
“And now this will be like a tourist attraction because it will be tied in with the National Park Service,” Colston said. of
Dayton Congressman Mike Turner toured the site a few months after the fire. He convinced Congress to set aside around $ 4 million for the efforts to rebuild.
“All of us are lockstep in terms of advancing the work on those hangers,” Gondol said.
Dayton city leaders are pleased that this project will remind everyone that Dayton is the birthplace of aviation. And the restoration of the hangars will allow people from around the country to see that.
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