The Steamer Tow 'Beaver' taken from Dayton, Kentucky	From the Kentucky Shore, Eden Park in Cincinnati

 

The Dayton Kid
Hydroplanes on the Ohio at Dayton

The Steamer Greenland, in Dayton	Three Steamers Across from Dayton ( unknown packet boat, The Island Queen, and the Princess ) photos by William Brengelman

The John Hastings

From a Facebook post by Cam Miller, who notes: “When I win the Shot At A Million vaccine sweepstakes, I am going to build a replica of the John Hastings ferry which operated from 1853-1890, carrying workers, supplies, materials, etc... to the Fulton steamboat shipyards across the river. It will be docked as a museum dedicated to the the steamboat culture that made Dayton...Dayton!” Godspeed, Cam.

 

  

The Dayton Ferry,
(with an armed guard?)

There are sources that say the first ferry to operate across the Ohio from Dayton was the John Hastings, in 1853.  There was an ad in a Cincinnati paper ten years later looking for a person to operate a ferry in Dayton, but there is no evidence the search came to fruition.  At any rate, in 1874, the Bessie Pearl, steamed across the river from the foot of Berry Street to Hazen Street on the Cincinnati side of the river.  The Bessie Pearl was eight feet long, was owned by Dr. L. P. Stone, and was said to “perform gracefully.” By the 1880's the steam ferry Florence Shanks ran the Dayton-Hazen Street route, and was eventually replaced by a bigger boat, The Bellevue.  But streetcars had come into their own by this time, they had new bridges across the river to travel on, they were faster than the ferry, and the ferry soon virtually ceased operation.

Scene of the Dayton river front

 

               

The Thistle, Dayton, Ky

 

From Eden Park in Cincinnati, Dayton before the floodwall 
to Master Archie Agle, Springfield, R.D.9., Ohio 
“Dear Archie, Hope you are through with your coal and wood.  Be sure to wear your rubbers
 as long as its so sloppy, or you might get the croup. Mother”

 

Former packet boat Chris Greene burned in Dayton in July 20, 1968.  It was being used by the Harrison Boat Club.

Lew Harrison ran the Dayton - Bellevue Ferry for 50+ years.  More on him is here.

More on the Dayton ferry is here.

“A negro was seen to run down to the river on the Kentucky side, near Jamestown [an earlier name of Dayton] on Sunday morning, and jumping into the river, swim over to the Ohio side, landing near Pendleton.  After resting himself (for he was very much fatigued) he started off over the hills.  Shortly after two white men were seen to ride down to the edge if the river and cross over.  They were in pursuit of the negro, who was a runaway slave.  They had tracked him to the river, and ascertained that he had crossed over.  They had chased him from near Alexandria, the county seat of Campbell county.  We have not learned whether the slave had yet been captured.”  from the Louisville Daily Courier, April 14, 1853, reprinting an article from the Cincinnati Gazette "of Tuesday."