• Dayton's National Park

    Dayton Aviation Heritage

    National Historical Park Ohio

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »

  • Construction on I-75

    I-75 north and south bound EXITS for FIRST and THIRD Streets are now CLOSED for construction. See Directions for alternative routes to our park. More »

Robert Murphy's Life Story

Robert Small Murphy
August 1, 1866; fl. 1940
Half-brother to Paul through their mother, Robert was born at the home of his maternal grandmother on Howard Street in Dayton, Ohio, the son of R. Weeks (or Wilson or Wills) Murphy and Matilda Burton, who separated before Robert’s birth. Robert attended schools in Dayton through the eighth grade before gaining employment as a janitor for the Beckel House, a Dayton hotel.

In 1887, Robert married a woman, perhaps a Ms. Holland, with whom he had five children. At a date before the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, he and his family moved to Chicago, where Robert worked for the city’s public schools system. Robert attended his mother’s funeral in Dayton in 1938, and died some time after February of 1940.

Did You Know?

Wright Memorial, a stone obelisk to honor the Wrights, is located on Wright Brothers Hill

The Wright Memorial in Dayton, Ohio, a stone obelisk of pink granite from North Carolina, was erected by Daytonians in 1940 to honor the Wright brothers' achievements.