Orville Wright’s Mansion Hosts Public Tour

Hawthorn Hill was built in 1914 as a symbol of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s success and worldwide fame as inventors of the airplane. Although the brothers designed the mansion together, Wilbur died two years before the home’s completion.

Orville — along with Katharine Wright (his younger sister and close confidante) and their father, Milton — lived at the home on Dayton’s south side in the suburb of Oakwood. During the more than three decades that followed, the residence played host to luminaries that ranged from fellow inventors Thomas A. Edison and Henry Ford to world-famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. On April 26, from noon to 5 p.m., the Wright at Home walking tour invites participants to tour the historic home and the surrounding neighborhood. Amanda Wright Lane, the Wright brothers’ great-grandniece, will be in attendance as well.

“After Orville Wright’s death on Jan. 30, 1948, Hawthorn Hill was purchased by NCR for use as a corporate guest house,” Alex Heckman, vice president of museum operations at Dayton History, said in a March 13 press release. “For the next 58 years, the historic home was carefully preserved but rarely open to the public.” 

The neighborhood tour also includes other innovators tied to Dayton, including Cheez-It inventor J.W. Green and co-inventor of the automobile self-starter Bill Chryst. The event is a fundraiser for Dayton History and the local Oakwood Historical Society and tickets are $40.

“Hawthorn Hill is known as a ‘success mansion,’ a symbol of the Wright brothers’ genius,” said Ann Febus, president of The Oakwood Historical Society, in the March 13 press release. “The surrounding neighborhood can be described the same way, reflecting the brilliance of Orville’s neighbors. The innovation that came from that small Oakwood region is extraordinary.” 

For more information, visit daytonhistory.org.

For more Ohio history inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters.

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.