Carillon Historical Park Marks 75 Years

Rising 151.5 feet in the air, the Deeds Carillon is one of the most iconic sights of Dayton. It was dedicated on Aug. 23, 1942, about eight years before Carillon Park would open for the first time and later become a landmark of Ohio’s Gem City.

That opening day was June 3, 1950, and now, Carillon Historical Park is celebrating 75 years of local history that has helped shape the world as we know it today.

Visitors to Carillon Historical Park will not only find the Wright Brothers National Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of artifacts from this aviation-forward family including the 1905 Wright Flyer III, but also the history behind several other Dayton-originated inventions that are still used today.

“From the airplane to the cash register to the automobile self-starter, Dayton once led the nation in patents per capita,” Brady Kress, president and CEO of Carillon Historical Park said in a June 3, 2025, press release. “Visitors often can’t believe how many commonplace inventions originated here, so we trademarked a simple phrase that says it all: ‘You can’t go a day without Dayton.’”

June 3, 2025, marks the kickoff for the 75th anniversary year for Carillon Historical Park, which leads to the unveiling for a new master plan this fall.

Commissioned by Col. Edward A. Deeds, the vision for the park was to be an open-air space where the city’s iconic history and impact on modern transportation could be celebrated.

This would all, of course, take place on the ground from which the carillon originally rose. Deeds’ wife, Edith Walton Deeds, was so taken with the chiming bells of the carillon in Bruges, Belgium, during a visit, that she wanted to bring that sound to her city. So, she oversaw construction of this now-landmark for two years until its completion.

Today, Carillon Historical Park is well-known for the Deeds Carillon but also as a place to learn more about the big ideas that came from this city and later shaped the world.

“From planes and trains to automobiles, Dayton helped set the world in motion,” Kress said in the June 3, 2025, release. “Deeds knew someone needed to save these great American stories for posterity, so he took it upon himself. The Park owes its existence to his foresight and generosity.”

For more information on Carillon Historical Park, visit daytonhistory.org.

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