When it opened in 1904 the Dayton Arcade was one of the nation’s earliest in-door shopping centers. Occupying most of an entire city block near the center of Dayton’s downtown, the Dayton Arcade had a food market, specialty stores, business offices, and apartments. The heart of the complex was its glass dome below which were galleries and the market floor. Extending from the rotunda was the glass-covered street, or arcade, which gave the complex its name.

The first decade of the Arcade came to an end with the Great Flood of 1913 that ravaged the city. In World War One and the 1920s industrial growth helped the city and revived the Arcade. But Arcade merchants were again challenged by the Great Depression and the growing competition from national chain stores. They used innovative advertising strategies to fight back. Through it all the Arcade remained a lively hub of social life in Dayton. Residents and the thousands of visitors who came to the Arcade each day, could visit scores of shops or stop to eat at establishments such as Culp’s Cafe.

During World War Two Dayton experienced significant economic and population growth. Subsequently the prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s revitalized the Arcade. Daytonians, like the rest of the U.S., embraced mass-consumerism. The city’s workers enjoyed high weekly pay and spent much of it downtown where the Arcade continued to supply many of their needs. At the same time its restaurants and bars maintained their importance in the city’s vibrant social life. However, by the mid-1960s the flight of white Daytonians to the suburbs depopulated parts of the city, lowered tax revenue, and led inadequate public services. Social unrest and crime followed. Urban revitalization efforts displaced many living near the downtown further robbing the Arcade of clients.

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