"DAYTON'S OWN" - THE DAYTON LIMESTONE - A SILURIAN BUILDING STONE FROM SOUTHWESTERN OHIO

“Dayton’s own”, the Dayton limestone (also referred to as Dayton stone or marble, geologically the Dayton Formation), is a Silurian-aged carbonate rock quarried in the past from southwestern Ohio. The stone was considered by State Geologist Edward Orton (1870, 1893) as one of Ohio’s finest building stones. The zenith of the Dayton limestone building-stone industry is perhaps characterized by the Old Courthouse (built 1850), an important building in the Greek-Revival architectural-style, at the heart of downtown Dayton. This building saw the use of Dayton limestone, not only for the exterior of the building, but also, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm, for slabs of limestone for the roof. It is considered one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in this country. By the beginning of the Civil War the stone roof had been covered to prevent leaking.

For a generation or two Dayton was nationally famous for its building stone [mid- to late Nineteenth Century] (Werthner, 1928). Dayton limestone was selected to represent the State of Ohio in the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., installed in 1850. The stone was also used for the “Ohio House”, built for the International Exhibition at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, commemorating the Centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1886. Dayton limestone was used for the front gable of the second floor level (Report of the Board, 1877; Seyfert, 2006).

The Dayton limestone had many vernacular uses in Montgomery and Greene counties, SW Ohio. It can be found in many buildings, frequently for footings – but in addition was used for window sills, window arches, walls, down-spout splash-blocks, curbstones, milestones, watering troughs, sidewalks and paving (flagging), steps, and front steps (Locke, 1838; Hawes et al., 1884; Werthner, 1928). It was also used for major engineering structures of the Nineteenth Century – canal locks (Werthner, 1928; Hannibal, 1998). The Dayton limestone was also used in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Chicago.

Recent stratigraphic interpretations consider the Dayton limestone to be much thinner in Piqua, Miami County, than previously thought (Mark Kleffner, personal communication, 2011). This has implications for the identification of building stones in southwestern Ohio.