Orville Wright’s success mansion.
Hawthorn Hill is Orville Wright’s success mansion. You can join the ranks of Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison as visitors to the world’s first pilot’s last home. Tours run Wednesdays and Saturdays, beginning at Carillon Historical Park. Advance pre-paid admission is required.
With its white pillars and twin porches, Hawthorn Hill has long been synonymous with Orville Wright and the Wright family. After purchasing property at the corner of Salem Avenue and Harvard Boulevard in Dayton, the Wright brothers’ younger sister, Katharine Wright, soon cajoled her world-famous brothers to move construction to Oakwood’s rolling, idyllic hills. Although both Orville and Wilbur were involved in planning the home, Wilbur died of typhoid fever on May 30, 1912, at age 45.
Completed in 1914, Hawthorn Hill became home to Orville, Katharine, and their father, Bishop Milton Wright. After Orville’s death in 1948, the National Cash Register Company purchased the mansion as a corporate guest house. NCR gifted it to the Wright Family Foundation in 2006, and in 2013, the Foundation transferred ownership to Dayton History, parent organization of Carillon Historical Park.
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