Historic Huffman

Upcoming Gathering at the Watsons’!

Erin 'n' Mark Caldwell — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:33:36 +0000

Happy 2012, everyone! Please join your neighbors an adults-only party at Lee and Shirley Watson’s house, 19 Linden Ave., on Saturday, January 14 starting at 6:00 pm. Lee and Shirley will provide ham and meatballs but everyone should bring a dish & beverages to share. See you there! Related posts: Harvest Chili Cook-Off this Friday! [...] Related posts:

If This Old Shoe Could Talk…

Joel Michael — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:18:54 +0000

This dirty old shoe and its partner have been through a lot. When they were new I wore them to run around the track at Stivers. They made their way through Eastwood Metropark and down to Riverscape a few times, too. Obviously they have a few miles on them. Over a year ago I stopped running in them and replaced them with a new set of kicks. My running shoes typically pass through multiple lives – running only, casual everyday use, and finally grunt work. While the cushioning diminishes as the running miles accumulate, the shoes look pretty good until they enter the third stage. That’s where the abuse happens. And this particular pair of shoes saw more abuse than any others I’ve put through the cycle. I wore them daily for the last five months while finishing renovations to our house in Huffman Historic. It was an intense time as we were under a deadline.

The renovations of the last several months were more than a full time job for me. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that nearly every waking moment was spent performing some kind of manual labor. These shoes were on my feet for way too many hours on ladders, on the roof, in the basement, and in the attic. They have been covered in century-old dust and several different colors of new paint. The dirt, scrapes, spots, and holes can tell a story all by themselves.

I recently dropped these sorry shoes in a recycling container at a Nike store in Portland, Oregon – our new home. Nike has been running their shoe recycling program for years. A lot of high school tracks around the country are covered in the ground up rubber of recycled athletic shoe soles from their program. It was time once again to purchase new running shoes and bump my old pairs down the line. I’m proud to say that from what I could see my old shoes were the most worn in the bin. I think they show the kind of effort that made and continues to make Huffman great. Maybe in a few more years ground up bits from these old running shoes will make their way back to Stivers when the track is resurfaced. I’m sure the odds are against that happening, but I like the thought of all those miles and all that work paving the way for new effort from new neighbors back in Huffman.

Harvest Chili Cook-Off this Friday!

Erin 'n' Mark Caldwell — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:25:34 +0000

Who: All Huffman Neighbors

What: Huffman Historic Neighborhood Assoc. Harvest Party & Chili Cook-Off

When: Friday, October 28, 2011 @ 6:30

Where: Jamieson Memorial Garden (4th & Ringgold)

Why: To continue celebrating HHNA’s 30th Anniversary

Please Bring:

A pot of your favorite chili. There will be a competition for the best overall chili.
Chairs and BEvERages.
If you are not a chili chef, please bring cornbread, cheese, onion, oyster crackers, other chili toppings or a side dish. We also plan to make s’mores! YUM!

Please note that the location does not provide access to electricity, so bring your chili/side hot and ready to eat. There will be a fire pit for light and warmth.

RSVP to Kristy Roberts ASAP at kristylroberts@gmail.com or 937-901-8165.

If it’s raining, the Cook-Off will be held the next Friday, November 4.

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Lookin’ Good, Jamieson Garden!

Erin 'n' Mark Caldwell — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:54:04 +0000

I remember when Jamieson Memorial Garden at the corner of Fourth and Ringgold Streets was first created. I was just a kid, and didn’t really know any of the details about who Jamieson was or why the garden was installed, all I knew was that this garden was our Monday morning donut picnic place.

Mondays were my Dad’s day off. As a special treat and to get in a little exercise, we would walk from our house on Linden to Thacker’s Donuts on Third and Ringgold. We’d all four kids choose a donut, and walk with our breakfast treasures to Jamieson Garden to eat them. I remember hopping from rock to rock in the cool morning munching my treat and being happy to spend time with my Dad and siblings.

Years have gone by since those donut mornings but I still remember them with fondness. On September 24th the neighborhood had a work day in the garden to do some weeding, cleaning and general maintenance of the landscaping there. The garden has been faithfully maintained by neighbors Paula Carrol-Worman and Shirley Watson and others, but this time it needed a bigger group to do some grooming and it looks great.

My two young boys (2 and 4 years old) were champs at pulling weeds, sawing some small branches, and finding walnut shells while other neighbors edged, removed a few leaning trees, weeded and did general clean-up. One generous neighbor even bought cheeseburgers and fries from The Spot on Fifth Street for the hardworking team.

The garden has changed over time: the trees have gotten bigger shading many of the flowering plants out and pushing up the bricks on the walkway with their roots, many of the big rocks were covered over with dirt from lots of rain and wind, a few bushes and trees have grown taller and wilder, but the memories I have of the garden from childhood will remain.
Thank you to all the neighbors who helped out at Jamieson on the 24th and a big thank you to Shirley Watson and Paula Carrol-Worman for their continued efforts over the years to maintain this little unique place in our neighborhood.

Murally Speaking

Danielle Dumont — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:55:26 +0000

The crunchy leaves and autumn colors have arrived in Huffman. Here are a couple colorful images to celebrate the end of summer:

Community garden and mural on E. Fifth St.

And just a few steps down the road, The Spot Diner. I hear their French fries are good!

Lookin’ Good, Jamieson Garden!

Come Home to Huffman – New Renovations Under Way

Rosie Miller — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:49:55 +0000

“Come Home to Huffman.” These words, used in marketing materials during the 1995 Huffman Rehabarama, are once again beckoning new neighbors to the Huffman Historic Area. In addition to privately owned properties for sale or rent, opportunities are just waiting for interested buyers to claim their piece of history in the neighborhood.

St. Mary Development Corportation has begun renovation projects on properties located on Ringgold Street, with more to follow. Getting in on the ground floor offers buyers the opportunity to provide input for the renovations, materials used, and in some cases even the floor plan. The property at 46-48 Ringgold is already pre-sold and restoration is under way. A former duplex at 38-40 Ringgold is being restored to its original status as a single family home; 50 Ringgold St. is framed for an updated floor plan and reconstrucion is also under way. These homes all have exceptionally large lots with plenty of room for garages while still leaving a large yard just waiting for children to play in or a garden to be grown. If you are looking for exceptional, affordable, city living click Email Us and provide your contact information.

Jamieson Memorial Garden Work Day

Erin 'n' Mark Caldwell — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:13:56 +0000

Please come help clean up the Jamieson Memorial Garden Saturday, September 24th beginning at 10 a.m. The Garden is located at the corners of Ringgold and Fourth Sts.

Please also bring your own garden tools, gloves, and trash bags.

If you have any perennials that you would like to donate (either thinned from your own or new), they would be greatly appreciated.

With questions, call Rosie Miller @937-546-2569. Hope to see you there!

Family Ties

Danielle Dumont — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:59:27 +0000

While attending the recent neighborhood association meeting, I was struck by an interesting quality shared by several of my neighbors. While introducing ourselves to a new neighbor, I heard how many families had multiple generations living in the neighborhood: grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, all residing in Huffman. It reminded me that when this neighborhood was built in the 1880s, family also played a large part.

William P. Huffman and some of his 10 children lived here. When I moved here 14 years ago, a 90-year-old neighbor was still living in the big brick house her father built for his family at the turn of the century. Two brothers built the house down the street from me. Another neighbor on my block visited his grandmother in Huffman growing up and has returned to live here with his family.

My neighbors at the meeting included three sets of grandparents. One couple moved here about 15 years ago, working on a second marriage. A daughter met the man next door and fell in love. They married, began a family, and live next to the parents. Another neighbor moved here about 8 years ago with her adult daughter and grandson, who attends the local school. Another couple moved here 21 years ago and raised all their children in Huffman. Their grown children have recently purchased other homes in the neighborhood, and have brought forth a few grandkids to boot! This same couple is now making arrangements to have their senior-citizen parents move here from another city — a fourth generation!

I heard how pleased my neighbors are to have their families nearby. Our slogan “Welcome Home to Huffman” takes on a deeper meaning when it encompasses so many tightly knit generations.

“Wood” You, Could You Mill My Baseboards?

Danielle Dumont — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:26:37 +0000

Renovating a Victorian house affords many surprises. Every time we get ready to work on a wall, three things enter our minds. How solid is that plaster? What’s inside those walls? Will I ever be able to replace those baseboards?

As we make our repairs, we often find that we have to un-do prior repairs. “Remuddling” was a common practice before Huffman was designated a historic district back in the 1980s. Often this work involves replacing or removing interior doorways to their original locations, after they had been shuffled around for any number of reasons (perhaps if the house had at one time been carved into apartments). After a couple rounds of moving wall openings, you’ll notice your lengths of baseboards getting shorter and shorter, creating more and more unsightly seams. At some point it is best to replace them. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, though. There’s no easy fix for this at the big box home repair stores. Those stores only stock thinner, shorter baseboards with less-detailed profiles.

Luckily, Dayton has excellent craftsmen who can mill replacement boards to match. And in a flash your choppy baseboards are once again filled with long, tall and elegant woodwork.

New, unfinished baseboard trim, on right, milled to match by Requarth Lumber

Here are several high-quality carpenters and craftsmen who mill wood trim for baseboards, windows, doorways, etc.:

1. Requarth Lumber. If it was good enough for the Wright Brothers, then it’s good enough for us. The people at Requarth are friendly and smart and have done a great job creating profiles that match our house.

2. Urbieta Construction. Juan Urbieta has his own wood shop on East Third Street and he and his team do a great job with renovations not only in the Huffman neighborhood but also around the Dayton region.

3. William Daniel Co. Bill Daniel is a resident of nearby St. Anne’s Hill and has a wood shop near Front St. He turns out spectacularly well-crafted items for home restorations.

4. Urban Village. The small team at Urban Village work hard and have repaired our Victorian porch pillars that were ravaged by hungry carpenter ants.

If you’re knee-deep in repairs, we recommend calling on any of these reputable businesses.

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Historic Anniversary: Built to Last

Danielle Dumont — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:48:57 +0000

The Huffman neighborhood was built from the 1860s to the 1890s, largely under the guidance of William P. Huffman, banker, real estate developer and founder of Huffman Manufacturing and the Huffy Bicycle Company. More than 100 years later, the neighborhood was incorporated as an historic district.

When the Dayton City Commission decided to protect this National Historic Register neighborhood in 1981, nearly one-quarter of the homes in the neighborhood were boarded up. Time, neglect — and human abuse — had taken their toll in some startling ways.

Linden Avenue Italianate, before and after restoration.

Luckily, we’ve come a long way, baby! This year we celebrated 30 years of house renovations and neighborhood revitalization, which have resulted in many more of those “after” pictures.

Big pats on the back to everyone who’s given their blood, sweat and tears to this neighborhood. And thanks to everyone who attended our anniversary picnic in June.

Check out beautiful photos of the party (sample below) by Briana Snyder at Briana Snyder’s photography blog

Judging the burger topping contest. Winners? New neighbors, the Jernigans!