Aviation Trail, Inc.

As long as men fly...wherever they journey through space...their flights began in Dayton, Ohio, The Birthplace of Aviation!

Aviation Trail, Inc. was formed as a non-profit corporation in 1981 to promote Dayton's aviation heritage that began with the invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903 and continues on to today's aerospace projects of the future now under development at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Originally envisioned as a marketing effort, the group's first project was the development of a tourist Aviation Trail consisting of 16 aviation related sites laid out as a self-guided tour in a brochure published in 1981.  When research for the brochure uncovered two little-known original Wright Brothers buildings still standing next to each other on their original sites in  Dayton's West Side, the group's mission soon expanded to include preservation projects as well.

Under the expansion mission, Aviation Trail, Inc. acquired the two historic Wright Brothers buildings in 1982, with the goal of restoring the buildings, known as the Hoover Block (Site 1) and The Wright Cycle Company (Site 3), and turning the property into a Wright Brothers museum complex.  Furthermore, their eventual goal was to also restore the surrounding deteriorating neighborhood to the way it was when Wilbur and Orville Wright lived and worked and invented the airplane there.

Restorations continued in 1992 when the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park was established. The National Park Service now operates the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and Aviation Trail Visitor Center in partnership with Aviation Trail.

Today, Wright-Dunbar Village is the realization of that dream, helped along with the support of several organizations after Aviation Trail, Inc. restored The Wright Cycle Company building.  Especially helpful was the City of Dayton, who had planned to clear the land in order to redevelop it as a typical urban renewal project, then switched to a preservation and restoration plan after they discovered the historic importance of the area.

Aviation Trail, Inc. continues to promote the various trail sites in the area that have unique and significant importance in this rich aviation heritage.