Mayor Edward E. Burkhardt presenting the City of Dayton Medals to Orville and Wilbur Wright., 1909 June

The collection visually documents the two-day Homecoming Celebration which was a salute to the Wrights' accomplishments in aviation. The Wrights had just returned from successful exhibition flights in France, Germany, and Italy where they received accolades from heads of states and gained fame throughout Europe. The event included receptions, parades, concerts, and firework displays all in honor of Dayton's hometown heroes. Daytonians were even given the opportunity to shake hands with Orville and Wilbur at the Dayton YMCA building, then on the corner of Third and Ludlow. On June 18th, at a ceremony at the fairgrounds, Orville and Wilbur received a Congressional Medal, a State of Ohio gold medal presented by Governor Judson Harmon, and a City of Dayton medal from Mayor Edward E. Burkhardt.

Photographs from this collection are available for viewing in CORE Scholar, the Campus Online Repository, at: http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms192_photographs/. To search for a specific image in CORE Scholar, search for the item using the following format: ms192_xxx, where "xxx" represents the three-digit image number listed in the finding aid. If the image number is less than 3 digits, include leading zeroes. For example, to locate image #1, search for ms192_001.