I had a great time doing a history talk at the Dayton Arcade this past July.
It was titled Hidden Stories of the Arcade: Industry, Innovation & Untold History and I dug into the companies and inventions that created the wealth that would build the Arcade, as well as some companies connected to the Arcade and key industries that operated in the blocks surrounding it.
The Tank space in the Arcade’s lower level was a perfect setting for the talk, and I was really excited that we had a sold-out crowd! It was great to get to chat with quite a few attendees before and after the presentation as well.
After the event I had some discussions with their events team and we are going to be making these Hidden Stories of the Arcade talks a quarterly series! In that sense it is similar to my series of talks at Trolley Stop in 2025.
My next event will be on Thursday October 22nd and I’ll be leaning into a spooky season theme by talking about some of the darkest days of the Arcade before its redevelopment, as well as a few other eerie tales from the surrounding blocks.
More info and tickets are available on Eventbrite.
After that, I’m working on coming up with a presentation with a theme of downtown’s glory days of retail to coincide with holiday shopping season.
The best way to keep up with all of my live events is to sign up for my Dayton History Newsletter.