MS-289 Papers of the River Corridor Development Committee

Introduction

The Papers of the River Corridor Development Committee consists of the correspondence and memos, meeting minutes, legal documents, miscellaneous documents, photographs, and bound case studies concerning the administrative activities and various projects of the committee. The collection was a gift, in June 1998, of a member of the committee’s executive board—Mr. Gayle Price of the Price Brothers Construction Co. The collection is contained in 10 boxes for a total of 5 linear feet and arranged in chronological order in 6 series as follows:

I. Administrative Activities
II. River Corridor Projects
III. Brochures, Pamphlets, and Magazines
IV. Photographs
V. Books
VI. Maps and Blueprints

The collection spans the years from the late 1960s until circa 1995. There are no restrictions on its use, however, users of the collection should beware that copyright to these images may not be claimed by Wright State University. It is up to any users of the collection to seek out and obtain correct copyright permissions for any use of the images beyond fair use for limited educational purposes.

Biography

The Committee was formed in 1968 under the chairmanship of Horace M. Huffman, Jr., it operated under the aegis of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. Its membership of twenty-five consisted of representatives of the various public agencies which had jurisdiction over river frontage development and the interested public.

Its goal was to further development along the river frontages: to enhance the recreational, aesthetic and appropriate commercial potentialities of Dayton’s major natural resource.

The Committee met for a year and gathered information about past planning related to the river The Committee agreed that a broad study on the potentials and a comprehensive land use plan were a desirable step in an improvement program. That planning stage was completed in the early 1970s.

The area to be included in the plan consisted of the Miami River and its tributaries the Stillwater and the Mad Rivers from the city line to the conservancy dams: the Miami southern boundary of the county; and Wolf Creek to Summit Street.

Scope and Content Note

The collection covers, in detail, the day-to-day administrative activities of the committee. In addition, there is also detailed information on the planning, implementation, and construction of the various projects that were considered during the course of the twenty plus years of the committee’s existence.

This collection is similar to others in the Wright State University’s Special Collections and Archives holdings dealing with Dayton urban renewal and development. Such as: The Burns-Jackson Project, MS # 142; The Dayton City Beautiful Council, MS # 195; and the Miami Conservancy District Records, MS # 77 and MSS # 128.

Problems that the researcher may encounter has to do with the very detailed scope of the collection. Much of the correspondence deals with troubleshooting the ideas proposed by the committee and often such correspondence consists of a few lines that agreed with a previous letter. In addition, despite the apparent detailed nature of the collection, there appears to be missing elements. For example, there are several case studies on the development progress of many phases of the project, but many are missing—it is not known if they ever existed.

Inventory