Wright Brothers Memorial Park
2380 Memorial Road Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433 MAP
Phone: 937.425.0008
Web: www.nps.gov/daav
Wright Brothers Memorial Park honors Wilbur and Orville Wright, who invented the airplane in their West Dayton bicycle shop. The park overlooks Huffman Prairie, where the Wrights completed their flying experiments after Kitty Hawk and demonstrated the world's first practical airplane. In 1924, the Dayton Air Service Committee, a group of business leaders, donated 4,500 acres of land to the U.S. Government for the creation of Wright Field (now a part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base). A part of the tract known as Tate Hill, which offered a view of the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, was set aside for the Miami Conservancy District to create a park honoring Wilbur and Orville Wright. It renamed the hill Wright Brothers Hill.
The Olmsted Brothers architectural firm designed the park, which includes a 17-foot pink granite obelisk and plaza. Its dedication ceremony in 1940 included Orville Wright and several of the 119 students he taught to fly on Huffman Prairie.
The National Register of Historic Places added the site in 1974 because of several prehistoric Adena Indian mounds adjacent to the memorial. The Conservancy District transferred the park to the Air Force in 1978 as part of the 75th anniversary of powered flight.
The Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center, a part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, is located on the hill facing the memorial park. It was established as one of several elements in the multi-site park and dedicated on December 17, 2002, the 99th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first powered flights at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.
Each year on Dec. 17, the communities of Kitty Hawk and Dayton honor the Wright brothers in simultaneous ceremonies. At the Wright Brothers Memorial Park, representatives of the Wright Family and the U.S. Air Force lay a wreath at the base of the park’s monument at 10:35 a.m., the time of the first flight.
Hours
Memorial Park
Daily: During daylight hours.
Interpretive Center
Daily: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Memorial to Labor Day: 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Closed: Saturday of U.S. Air Force marathon, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day
Weather: During inclement weather, call for daily schedule.
Admission
Admission to the interpretive center and the park are free.
National Park activities and events
RESTAURANTS | HOTELS | NEAREST AIRPORT
Driving Directions:
Print
this Page
TOP
