It’s in the forties and very chilly. There is also dampness in the air. I have an afternoon shift at The Park and am eager to check in with some folks on some items regarding Dayton’s history.

I had always wondered about the “homes” that bordered the southeast campus of Kettering Hospital. While conducting research on Edward Deeds and Charles Kettering during the 1913 Dayton Flood, I discovered the two founders of DELCO (Dayton Electronics Laboratory Company) ordered twenty-five pre-fab homes from Chicago to “pop up” along Delco Dell Road for company executives without homes, or with badly flood-damaged homes.

For many years, I have passed a number of homes near the intersection of Stroop Road and Southern Boulevard, on the Kettering Hospital campus, below Charles Kettering’s Ridgeleigh Terrace home and just east of Moraine Farm that was once the expansive property of Edward & Edith Deeds. The homes DELCO constructed were along Delco Dell Road, now sandwiched between The Moraine Country Club and The NCR Country Club. Delco Dell Road begins at the northern end of Southern Boulevard after it crosses Stroop Road heading south. It only seemed possible these structures, within a stone’s throw, were some of the Sears pre-fab homes ordered and constructed by DELCO during the flood so that the fairly new company could continue its manufacturing needs.

Lou Eckert, a Carillon Historical Park Volunteer who is incredibly knowledgeable about The Wright Brothers and also a volunteer for Moraine Farm concluded that these were, indeed, homes ordered for the 1913 Dayton Flood.

Mystery solved.

I love these historical mysteries that keep me hoping for more information. Lou wants to help me visit Moraine Farm, again, and head over to the country club to see some of the historical photographs. This is so exciting.

I know the homes constructed along Delco Dell Road will have nothing to do with my project but that’s not how I work. I always utilize the iceberg effect: readers or the audience will only see the tip of the iceberg. What remains unseen beneath keeps the iceberg afloat. Or, it is like spreading out a great buffet and I can select what I need for my project’s plate.

Onward to make it a great day!