Print Shop Exhibit Set for Expansion
- Carillon Historical Park is Site #4 on the Aviation Trail -
The Dayton History organization held a ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday, October 15th at 2:00 pm on a project that will more than double the size of one of Carillon Historical Park’s most popular exhibits, The Print shop. Furthermore, by physically linking the expanded shop to two adjacent, existing exhibit buildings, this initiative will create a new thematic zone within the Park focused on a portion of our region’s industrial history. This project has been funded through the generosity of a Dayton couple who have asked to remain anonymous.
Originally conceived in 1985 as a way to preserve Dayton’s rich history of letterpress printing, the shop opened in 1988 as the first exhibit building funded independently of the trust fund established by Colonel Edward A. and Edith Walton Deeds. For over 30 years, the shop’s dedicated volunteers have utilized equipment dating from the 1880s to the 1930s to produce a wide array of printed products for use at the historical park and for purchase by the public. In this way, the shop is an active, working exhibit, not simply a static display.
The shop’s expansion has been designed to more fully share stories of Dayton’s printing heritage, as well as to demonstrate aspects of the letterpress trade not previously exhibited. It will allow for the installation of seven more operational printing presses, as well as related equipment. These pieces, used for decades in Dayton, include: a Kelly Model C, a Miehle Vertical, a Heidelberg Windmill, a Little Giant, a Mergenthaler Linotype, and a Dayton-made Seybold Paper Cutter.
“This expansion is another exciting step toward the implementation of our master plan for the entire Carillon Historical Park campus. As a private, non-profit organization, all of our expansion and improvement projects are funded through the generosity of private individuals, families, foundations, and corporations,” said Dayton History President/CEO Brady Kress. “The philanthropic couple whose gift made this particular project possible is committed to our organization’s educational mission, and to the preservation of Dayton’s significant role in the history of letterpress printing. We are delighted that work is now underway on what will be one of our nation’s premier, working exhibits on the history of America’s early 20th century printing industry.”
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Carillon Historical Park | 1000 Carillon Blvd. Dayton Ohio 45409 | daytonhistory.org