44 / 190
4 | The City of Dayton
an Iroquois Indian expression that equivo-
cates to “Good River.” Of course, Dayton
has figured in a good bit of meaningful his-
tory, such as being distinguished as “The
Birthplace of Aviation” as homage to the pi-
oneering avian exploits of hometown heroes
Wilbur and Orville Wright. In more mod-
ern times, Dayton has garnered distinction
as a home to the aviators and other military
personnel defending our national interests
through operations at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, one of the most complex, tech-
nologically-capable and critical of command
centers for the United States Air Force. Day-
ton has also been made home by innovators
of industry which include John Henry Pat-
terson whose National Cash Register Com-
pany produced the very first cash register
machine, followed by countless more. It was
also here that Charles Kettering founded the
Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company
(DELCO) and secured patents for develop-
ing innovations suchas theelectronic ignition
and lighting systems used in the automotive
industry, and the air conditioning coolant
known as Freon, as well as lots of other cool
stuff. Nationally, Dayton has been heralded
as having one of America’s most-affordable
City Hall