A History of Walnut Hills, Dayton, Ohio.
Arriving in the Dayton settlement in 1798,
Robert Edgar
secured shelter by building Newcom's tavern and paid for his keep by supplying one deer a week to the Newcom's. In 1806, Robert Edgar purchased the southeast quarter of section 33. Some 80 acres in total.This tract comprises about half of the current neighborhood. He built his home near the half section line on a small rise somewhere within the current Wyoming, Heaton, Indiana and Highland Avenue boundry. He also acquired another 80 acres when he purchased the northeast quarter of section 26 in 1813 with the intention of quarrying the limestone at that location. When he died in 1838 the land was passed on to his oldest living child, Samuel Edgar.
Samuel Edgar built a house on the land in 1845 that still stands. The current address of that house is 114 Volkenand Ave. This was the only house on the land between the Wayne/Wyoming junction and what is now Highland Ave. He added to his homestead by selling land in the other quarter section while at the same time buying land in other counties and the state of Kansas.The story that has been passed down is that around 1867, he had two houses built for his daughters as wedding gifts. These two houses have been extensively remodelled and added to since their original inception, but are now the two funeral homes that sit on Wayne Avenue opposite Esther Price Candies. If you read Samuel Edgar's will you will know the true story. See link below and read the codicils.
The property between Highland Avenue and Phillips Avenue was also farmland, however, a portion of that area became a limestone quarry in 1914 when the city of Dayton crushed the stone to use in the new concrete streets that they were providingfor the residents of the neighborhood. This is still a deep ravine, located behind Clarence Street. The property between Phillips Avenue and Pursell Ave was a fruit farm that was established by Nicholas Ohmer in the 1860s who acquired 50 of his 100 acres from Samuel Edgar in 1857.
To read more about Robert Edgar ,
Samuel Edgar or
Nicholas Ohmer click on the link.
To view how Samuel Edgar's last will reads CLICK HERE
The map below indicates the locations of Robert Edgar's land purchases.
Here are sketches of what Walnut Hills looked like in 1875
The two houses that are now Funeral homes looked like this.
This was the Ohmer Park area.
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