Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

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Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP »

Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center

The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center contains approximately 5,000 square feet of exhibits which provides information on the various sites of the Aviation Trail, the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the invention of flight, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Dayton at the time of those historic events.

Orientation in the spacious lobby provide information on the park sites and Aviation Trail through graphics and touch-screen computer stations.

The first exhibits provide historical context to the stories of Wilbur and Orville Wright and Paul Laurence Dunbar, setting the stage for the turn of the 20th Century. Exhibits on the childhood interests of the Wright brothers provide insight to their later accomplishments. The poems of their friend and fellow Dayton resident Paul Laurence Dunbar are featured in displays and audio programs. Historic furnishings and cast figures with audio programs recreate the turn-of-the-century Hale's Grocery in the same area where it was originally located.

Through displays, videos, and interactive models, the painstaking process of invention of the first airplane is chronicled. A working reproduction of the engine used in the first Wright flyer and an exact, full-size replica of one of its propellers, which can be set spinning with the push of a button, enlivens the exhibit experience.

Planning, Design and Fabrication: Explus, Inc./Christopher Chadbourne Associates

Audiovisual Programs: Explus, Inc. and Harpers Ferry Center

Historic Furnishings: Harpers Ferry Center

Harpers Ferry NHP »