DAYTON
Montgomery County is the fourth largest county in Ohio. It was officially chartered in 1803, but its history began much earlier. Dayton is its largest city, where it is said that there are more patents per capita than any other city in the nation.
Dayton offers great attractions and historical sites, fantastic arts, a thriving business area, beautiful parks, and wonderful shopping and dining.
The Dayton/Miami Valley landscape is located at the ?Crossroads of America? where interstates 70 and 75 intersect. Dayton is less than an eight-hour road trip away from 55 percent of the United States population.
OAKWOOD
With its location next to the City of Dayton to its credit, Oakwood?s largest growth began and by 1930, the village population numbered over 6,000. Oakwood incorporated as a City in 1908 and in 1932, adopted the Council/Manager form of government still in place today. The current population of Oakwood is 8,957, representing nearly 4,000 households.
One of the city?s early residents was Orville Wright, whose stately home still stands at the corner of Harmon and Park Avenues. John Patterson, founder of the National Cash Register Company (NCR) also called Oakwood home. Dayton area community leaders consistently chose to reside in this tree-filled residential community and established a tradition of quality in housing and services.
Although bordering on the City of Dayton, Oakwood has a small town feeling and is characterized by its friendliness, safety, and sense of security.
Since it?s founding in 1908, Oakwood has been the home of many honored leaders of business, government, industry, education, and the arts. Inventor Orville Wright and NCR founder, John H. Patterson, both called Oakwood home.
In addition to its many other amenities Oakwood also offers residents one of the top school systems in Ohio, and quaint recreation and dining opportunities, many of which are within comfortable walking distance.
KETTERING
The earliest settler in what is now Kettering was John Patterson, a farmer who built the area?s first log cabin in 1798. In 1841, Van Buren Township approved the incorporation of the Village of Kettering, named for its most outstanding citizen, the famous philanthropist, and inventor of the automobile self-starter, Charles F. Kettering. A special census in 1955 recorded the village population at 38,118 qualifying it for a city status. The Secretary of the State of Ohio proclaimed Kettering a city on June 24, 1955.
In November 1952, voters took the first step to establish the Village of Kettering and later the City of Kettering. The adjoining are became Moraine Township and is today the City of Moraine.
The City of Kettering has received the National Gold Medal Award, marking it as the best parks and recreation agency in the nation among cities with populations between 50,000 and 100,000. More than 2 million participants took advantage of one or more of the hundreds of programs offered by the City of Kettering in 1999. It is home to our own outdoor pavilion, the Fraze, locally renown as hosting the best music on the planet.
The Kettering Parks Division manages 408 acres of open space, including 21 neighborhood and community-sized parks, 32 tennis courts, 41 baseball/softball diamonds, 20 football/soccer fields, 6 self-guided fitness trails, a sledding hill, the Polen Farm grounds, 4 ponds, 18 miles of median areas, a BMX track and nearly 10,000 street trees. Civic Commons, the park in which the Fraze Pavilion is located, is the city?s newest park. Developed in the late 80?s, the award-winning park features reflecting pools, fountains, patios, flowers, walking paths and a 2-acre pond.
In addition to the Fraze Pavilion for the Performing Arts, the Cultural Arts Division operates Rosewood offers more than 250 classes for all ages in music, theater, dance, painting, pottery, weaving, wood-working and the humanities. Rosewood also operates a contemporary art gallery that features exhibits by local, regional, and national artists. The Kettering Children?s Theater and other performing groups call Rosewood Home.
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