Dayton's eastern suburban frontier.

A look at Dayton’s booming eastern suburbs, mainly Beavercreek and the Fairfield Mall edge city (which includes Wright State University). A lot of people who have a more Cincinnati-centric view of things see Cincy and Dayton growing togther via sprawl, but the big sprawl action in Dayton is really more to the east right now, into Greene County....





Dayton fades into the distance…




The wide-open spaces of the Mad River valley….







“This is the place”




“I have seen the promised land”




Home Depot big box, Fairborn water sphere, and Pentagon Park under construction



Pentagon Park closer



water sphere from the ground













































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Block of bungalows perhaps indicates this was an early commuter suburb, via interurban or Model T.










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The New Suburban History…figuring out how to do suburbia in Knollwood (1920s - 1952)











Bungalow and foursquare styles from the 1920s and maybe early 30s








“Pearl Harbor Suburbia” from, say 1939 through WWII, perhaps some early postwar things too (and note the big lots. This area was either on individual house wells or had a private water system)








Early ranches, including a Lustron home from the late 1940s







( note the cinderblock house next door …there are a number of CMU houses in this part of Beavercreek)



Two types of streets…long straight street (with huge lots) in a prewar plat…



…and a curved street with ranches, which is on an early postwar plat…we are in more generic postwar suburban space here. Suburbia as we know it has arrived.



Early retail/commercial stuff. The shingled mansard is probably from the 1970s, underneath is a concrete block building with metal sash windows. Note the minimal on-street parking and two story arrangement. Not quite there yet for a shopping center….builders here were still thinking of trad two-story urban retail/commercial structures a bit.



Next door a better example of the “stripped” taxpayer block in a suburban setting. Note the glass block windows. Very “in” in the later 30s and 1940s.




And a true early postwar strip center (1950s?)





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Postwar suburbia to the suburban frontier
















The Research Park. This is a popular spot for the defense contractor community, and acts to buffer Beavercreek somewhat from declining Dayton to the west.














The Country Club of the North has some of the best designed spec housing in the Dayton area. A number of houses here are a cut above the usual developer tract mansion in terms of composition.



















Stonehill is one of the largest planned communities in Ohio, with a projected build-out in 20 years (the developers are in no hurry). The developers are the Nutters, of Nutter Center. This is a somewhat unusual development due to the open space system (not a golf course) worked into the plan, including a network of foot and bike paths. So it’s a bit better when it comes to site planning than a typical plat.










The scenic road to Stonehill. We are 15 minutes east of downtown Dayton.






Bits of the open space/path system






Old barn converted into a sales office/community center














Open space/path system inside the developed parts of the development






Taking a walk on the path system

















Ending with a view over the Little Miami river valley…..




…by now, Dayton, with all its urban ills and disfunctions, is “far away and long ago”