Carillon Historical Park, Ohio, United States

5wireless_in_CA 5:00 PM Aug 27, 2021

Great Collection of Dayton History
We spent a couple hours here exploring both the inside and outdoor exhibits. Until that day, I never realized how much manufacturing and industry was started here in Dayton. From NCR (cash registers), Delco (automotive), Frigidaire (refrigerators and home appliances) to aerospace, bicycles and more. The exhibits were through and detailed. Well designed and informative. A working indoor carousel was located next to an indoor scale model train setup. From the historical viewpoints there were a number of buildings relocated here from around d Dayton. A wooden covered bridge, an old clock tower (a climb up the 100+ stairs gave a good view of Dayton and the river), homes, cabins and so forth. Majority of them were open and decorated in the period. One building contained just bicycles from the many manufacturers that used to be her in Dayton, I.e. Huffy, that I rode around as a youngster. Another building documented the effects and impacts of the the 1913 flood that destroyed a good part of Dayton. Trolley, trains and a bus were housed in a larger building and a docent was quite helpful in explaining the history of each before we were allowed to walk inside. A first class train coach was polished wood and quite plush for the day. The 1905 Wright Flyer III was housed in its own museum building and amazingly restored from at least 80% of the recovered materials from storage in Kitty Hawk. Definitely worth seeing even if it’s not the first one that took flight. Other parts of the museum covered the Wright Brothers early days as printer and bicycle manufacturers. Guides here were helpful and gave good insight and details. The Carillion Tower in front of the park is functioning but unfortunately we never heard it play during our visit. Admission was reasonable for all that you get to see.

4ellenbee56 5:00 PM May 5, 2022

a fun place to explore
We visited here recently and enjoyed our time very much. As history buffs, we found lots of interesting things to see throughout the complex. Heritage Hall contained exhibits about items invented or manufactured in Dayton, OH, or nearby. The collection of cash registers (an item invented here) was truly impressive; they were works of art! Included here was an enjoyable 20-minute-long animatronic presentation about Dayton’s innovators and a very unusual carousel. Outdoors, there are various buildings and structures spread out on their grounds, including historic houses, a church, a school, a covered bridge, etc.; some buildings had docents inside and others contained exhibits. The transportation barn contained a nice collection of historic vehicles such as a coach, Conestoga wagon, steam engine, passenger trains, a streetcar, caboose, etc. Another building contained rare and antique bicycles, all fascinating and fun to see. A highlight for us was the National Park Service’s Wright Brothers National Museum. It displays the original 1905 Wright Flyer III and various exhibits about their accomplishments in the area of aviation. There was another (different) animatronics presentation in this building. Having visited the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and Wright Cycle Company building that morning (see separate review), we found these additional exhibits a nice supplement; the information presented here was not at all redundant to the other site, so seeing both of these was worth doing. (If you have a NPS pass, tell them at admission and receive a small discount on your Carillon Park ticket.) We did not hear the carillon in play during our visit and did not hear anything about when it can be heard (maybe we missed in while indoors). There was a bit of construction going on here as new exhibits are readied for opening; we were told a train will soon be added to give visitors a ride around the park. We had planned to eat lunch at Culp’s Café, but their website stated it was not open. (I would have rated this site 5 stars but deducted one star for the construction mess and the closed café.) In all, we spent almost four hours here, enjoying the exhibits, the presentations, and the grounds. It was a very enjoyable time and a great site at which to wrap up our spring trip before heading home to eastern PA the following day. There was plentiful free parking and clean bathrooms.