The Hotel Van Cleve

The Hotel Van Cleve was a 12-story, 236-room hotel that stood at 36 West 1st Street in Dayton, Ohio. In 1948, Boeing engineers met there and designed the B-52 Stratofortress over a single weekend.[1] The hotel was demolished in 1969.

The Van Cleve was named after William Van Cleave, who had established a hotel and tavern in Dayton in 1812. The hotel was financed by the Stranahan, Harris and Otis Company of Toledo and built in 1927 by Hill Smith and Company for $1.2 million. The hotel opened in January 1928 in the presence of Ohio Governor Vic Donahey, Columbus Mayor James J. Thomas, and prominent hoteliers from across the United States. The first general manager was C.C. Schiffler, a German-born hotelier who had managed the Ritz-Carlton in New York.[2]

In 1932, the hotel was acquired and run through the 1930s by hotel industry pioneer Ralph Hitz's National Hotel Management Company. In the fall of 1939, the Van Cleve hosted Bob Chester's orchestra for a dance music program, aired nationally on CBS radio.

On 21 October 1948, Boeing engineers George S. Schairer, Art Carlsen, and Vaughn Blumenthal presented the design of a four-engine turboprop bomber to the U.S. Air Force's chief of bomber development at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, who expressed disappointment and asked if the Boeing team could produce a proposal for a four-engine turbojet bomber. Joined by Ed Wells, Boeing's vice president of engineering, the engineers worked that night in the Van Cleve, redesigning Boeing's proposal as a four-engine turbojet bomber. On Friday, the Air Force looked over the information and asked for a better design. Returning to the hotel, the Boeing team was joined by Bob Withington and Maynard Pennell, two top Boeing engineers who were in town on other business.[3] By late Friday night, they had laid out what was an essentially new airplane with 35-degree swept wings and eight engines.[4] After a trip to a hobby shop for supplies, Schairer set to work building a model. The rest of the team focused on weight and performance data. Wells, who was also a skilled artist, completed the aircraft drawings. On Sunday, a stenographer was hired to type a clean copy of the proposal. On Monday, Schairer presented a neatly bound 33-page proposal and a 14-inch (36 cm) scale model.[5][6] The aircraft became the famed B-52 Stratofortress.[7]

Through the 1960s, the Van Cleve faced a steady decline in business due to newer more modern hotels and motels being built in the area. In 1967, the shareholders authorized the board to dissolve the hotel corporation and put the building up for sale. The city attempted to buy the hotel for apartments.

Instead, an anonymous donor purchased the hotel in November 1967 for between $750,000 and $1,000,000 and gave it to the Christ Episcopal Church next door. The building closed as a hotel on December 31, 1967. It was supposed to be converted into a home for the elderly, however this plan was scrapped when the cost for renovation proved to be too high. After the hotel was closed, its restaurant, the Mayfair, and bar, The Wagon Wheel, remained open until October 1968. After the restaurant and bar closed, the building remained empty until March 1969, when its furnishings were auctioned off and demolition began. Demolition was completed in June 1969.

After its demolition, Parking Management, Inc. opened a parking lot on the site. This was supposed to be temporary, until Christ Church could decide what to do with the site. However, Parking Management, Inc. still operates a parking lot on the site today.

References

  1. ^ Jeanette Remak; Boeing B-52 Stratofortress: Warrior Queen of the USAF; Fonthill Media Limited; 2016
  2. ^ "Governor and Capital Mayor to Visit Hotel" Dayton Herald Newspaper; 04 January 1928, Page 1
  3. ^ Hollings, Alex. "The B-52 was designed in a hotel room over a weekend in 1948, and it may still be flying 100 years later". Business Insider. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  4. ^ Tagg 2004, pp. 48–50.
  5. ^ "B-52 Design: Dayton Hotel Birthplace of jet-powered Bomber". Boeing. April 11, 2002. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  6. ^ "Historical Snapshot: B-52 Stratofortress". Boeing. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  7. ^ Knaack 1988, pp. 215–216.

Sources

  • "Hotel Van Cleve Opens" Dayton Herald Newspaper, 4 January 1928
  • Brainard Platt; "Van Cleve Hotel Up For Sale; Mayor to Make Offer" Journal Herald Newspaper (Dayton, Ohio), 28 October 1967
  • "Christ Church gets OK to Buy Hotel" Journal Herald Newspaper (Dayton, Ohio), 11 November 1967
  • "Alternatives Sought for Van Cleve" Journal Herald Newspaper (Dayton, Ohio), 10 February 1969
  • Jerry R. Cole; "The End of the Van Cleve" Journal Herald Newspaper (Dayton, Ohio), June 11, 1969

39°45′42.2″N 84°11′38.1″W / 39.761722°N 84.193917°W / 39.761722; -84.193917

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