Dayton, Ohio’s Downtown Heliport (and Former Music Venue)
There’s a relic of urban renewal in Downtown Dayton, Ohio. While the city’s local bus and trolleybus lines have their main hub nearby, the concrete structure known as the “Dayton Transportation Center” lost its Greyhound terminal in 2009. Originally envisioned to also host a rail station, Amtrak was never incorporated into this 1970s era project. Rather, the passenger railroad service provided trains to Columbus, New York, Kansas City, and points in between just a few blocks down the street before leaving Dayton in 1979. These days, the transportation center and its spiral ramps primarily serve automobiles as a convenient parking spot for the nearby convention center and Oregon District. There’s one other vehicle it can still accommodate, though: helicopters.
You’d have to contact the suburban airport authority if you want to use the “unattended 40 feet by 40 feet concrete surface with perimeter lights, wind sock and rotating beacon,” but it’s there if you’ve got a pilot and a “whirlybird.” I don’t use the phrase “whirlybird” in common conversation, but this pamphlet from 1973 really liked the term. It also highlights Dayton as one of many American cities embracing helicopter transport (although, interestingly enough, it specifically mentions a much larger heliport at the city’s “Coca Cola building” and not the one seen here).
Atop the parking garage, the helipad is surrounded by ample parking and a striking view of the surrounding city in all directions. There’s a faded “X” on the pad, hinting that the space may have once been closed to air traffic, but the less faded “H” seems to indicate it’s still open. Nearby, a locked office adorned with a windsock and a sign reading “Dayton Heliport” simply now serves only as storage for the local parking operator. Per the aforementioned airport authority, use of the facility requires “24-hour advance notice.”
While Dayton operates a successful international airport and is the historic home of the Wright Brothers, the National Museum of the United States Air Force, a renowned air show, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base—helicopter charter service never seems to have really caught on here. Which is fair, since helicopter travel throughout the country has mainly found practical applications solely within the business, medical, military, and tourism sectors.
Still, the center’s inclusion of a helipad speaks to the bold vision of its designers even if the building ended up being little more than a parking garage. Per author Tony Kroeger’s Hidden History of Dayton, Ohio: the transportation center was part of the city’s “Midtown Mart” urban renewal project. It opened in 1972 and still features skywalks to the nearby convention center and hotels (originally envisioned as part of a larger skywalk network across the city that was never realized). Two businesses still operate out of the center at street level: Drake’s Downtown Gym and the local PBS Affiliate: Think TV.
Helipad as seen via Google Maps.
Since its inception, the transportation center was also home to an iconic, local music venue known as Gilly’s. The popular club closed in 2017 following the death of owner Jerry Gillotti.
Former Gilly’s entrance.
Vacant storefront and plaza at street level.
Lobby, elevator bank, and skywalk connection to the convention center.
Noticed while editing the previous photo after we had passed through Dayton one afternoon: a neon helicopter sign.
The center received a public art mural courtesy of local artist Atalie Gagnet in 2020 ,which give its stark appearance a nice pop of color. For the most part, though, the brutalist structure sits in stoic fashion at the edge of the Gem City’s heart, another remain of Midwestern America’s former obsession with “urban renewal.”
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