Plaques to mark visits

Presidents who come to Dayton will be memorialized at Courthouse Square

   On Sept. 17, 1859, Abraham Lincoln stood in front of the courthouse in Dayton and spoke for more than an hour against slavery.
   "Congress has a constitutional right ... to prohibit the existence of slavery or any other evil," Lincoln said
   Exactly a century later, on Sept. 17, 1959, John F. Kennedy spoke to the Montgomery County Bar Association at the Biltmore Hotel, First and Main Streets. Kennedy spoke against attorneys who commit unethical acts in behalf of corrupt union leaders. He called on the profession to mobilize against them.
   "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love," Kennedy said.

PRESIDENTIAL VISITS    * Nov. 6, 1843 - Former president John Quincy Adams, en route to Cincinnati. He stayed at the National Hotel and made a few remarks there.    * June 8, 1842 - Former president Martin Van Buren, en route to Indianapolis. He spoke on horseback in front of the National Hotel.    * Sept. 10, 1840 - William Henry Harrison came to Dayton for the Whig Party National Convention, the only time a national political party held a convention here.    * Sept. 17, 1859 - Abraham Lincoln.    * Sept. 21, 1864 - Future President James A. Garfield, a Civil War general, spoke at the courthouse on behalf of the Lincoln-Johnson campaign.    * October 1864 - Andrew Johnson spoke at the courthouse as a vice presidential candidate. At the time he was military governor of Tennessee, his home state. The exact date has not been verified.    * Oct. 3, 1871 - Ulysses S. Grant was the first president to visit Dayton while in office. He stayed at the Beckel House hotel and said a few words there.    * July 30, 1884 - Rutherford B. Hayes spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument on Main Street at Water (now Monument) Street.    * May 14, 1891 - Benjamin Harrison spoke from his train's platform at Union Station.    * Aug. 7, 1920 - Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Dayton to meet James M. Cox, the Democratic candidate for president that year. He spoke briefly at Union Station. FDR came back as a presidential candidate in 1931, when he was governor of New York, and made a "whistle stop" on First Street in 1936. He was back in October 1940 to visit Wright Field and speak to a large crowd at the Old Court House.    * Oct. 11, 1948 - Harry S Truman stopped during his re-election campaign, passing the Old Court House and speaking at Memorial Hall. Truman returned in 1952 to campaign for the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.    * Sept. 23, 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican nominee, made a whistle-stop visit at First and Front Streets.    * Sept. 17, 1959 - John F. Kennedy stopped at Biltmore Hotel. JFK was back Oct. 17, 1960, as the Democratic nominee, speaking to a crowd at the Old Court House.    * Oct. 26, 1960 - Richard M. Nixon spoke at the Old Court House in his campaign against Kennedy. Nixon returned during his 1968 presidential campaign. He was back in 1971 for dedication of the U.S. Air Force Museum.    * Oct. 16, 1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at the Old Court House.    * June 7, 1976 - Gerald R. Ford campaigned at the Old Court House. He also visited Dayton in 1977, 1978 and 1991.    * Oct. 3, 1980 - Jimmy Carter campaigned at the Dayton Convention Center.    * Oct. 12, 1984 - Ronald Reagan staged an old-fashioned whistlestop tour of western Ohio, starting at Union Station. He also spoke at the Old Court House.    * 1988 - George Bush visited the Miami Valley eight times during his campaign but did not speak at the Old Court House. Bush also visited Brookville during his 1992 campaign.    * Oct. 10, 1996 - Bill Clinton campaigned for re-election at the Old Court House. * RESEARCHED BY David P. Williamson, Leadership Dayton

   Over the years, 20 United States presidents have visited Dayton. But only Lincoln's visit, shortly before he became a candidate for president, is commemorated with a plaque at the Old Court House.
   That will change this spring.
   The 1997 class of Leadership Dayton, a community program for business leaders, sponsored by the Dayton Area chamber of Commerce, is raising funds for a "Fountain of Presidents." It will commemorate at least a dozen presidential visits with plaques installed on the concrete pylons of the Courthouse Plaza fountain.
   The plaques will contain the name, likeness, date of visit and a quotation from U.S. presidents who spoke in Dayton, usually at Courthouse Square.
   The fountain will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. today.
   "We think it will enhance the historical value of the site, educate the populace and attract more visitors to the courthouse museum," said attorney David P. Williamson, the Leadership Dayton chairman for the class project.
   Williamson said he got the idea from a wall of Memorial Auditorium at Ohio University in Athens, where he got his undergraduate degree. The wall displays quotations of noted people who visited the campus. The Dayton plaques will be 18 by 20 inches with an etched relief of a president.
   Plenty of material was available on the Dayton presidential visits, but it had never been assembled in one place. Williamson, a self-described history buff, called that work "a labor of love."
   The new display received approval from the Montgomery County Commission, which owns the plaza, and support from the chamber. Leadership Dayton class members are raising funds from area organizations, companies and institutions.

FDR shared a ride with Orville Wright (center) and James Cox in a 1940 motorcade.
   DAYTON DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO