Legal Matters, Correspondence, General, 1965-1979

Spanning the time period from the inception of the Committee of Eleven, Inc. in August 1964 to its dissolution in March 1980, this collection provides excellent source material for research relating to municipal incorporation, citizens' action committees, and the evolution of local government. The papers reveal why the Committee of Eleven was organized, who its members and officers were, details regarding the formal organization and function of the group, results of research conducted indicating the pros and cons of incorporation, and decisions made regarding legal problems, litigations, and fund-raising. The records are divided into two series.

Series I, Administration, includes membership lists for the general committee and the Trustees from 1969 to 1980 but there are omissions for the years 1973, 1975 and 1977. The minutes of the Committee's Trustee meetings, which were held irregularly every two, three, or four weeks and date from August 27, 1964 to March 27, 1980 are also included. The newspaper clippings in the second series can be used to fill the gap in the minutes from December 3, 1975 to April 16, 1979. It was during this period that the Committee fought legal battles with Dayton, Kettering, Fairborn, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Technology, Inc. This series also contains correspondence between the general committee and the Trustees as well as general in and out correspondence. Spanning from 1965 to 1979 are legal documents of the legal battles fought to make Beavercreek a village and later a city.

The research reports prepared by the Committee reveal the pros and cons of incorporation and its costs. There are also reports which compare the financial advantages and disadvantages of incorporation with or without the Valleywood area. A copy of the petition to incorporate, complete with signatures of freeholders, is included in the collection as well as related information to the petition. Along with the petitions, there is information about public outreach from articles submitted to the Beavercreek Daily News to fund-raising and promotional materials; which include a slide presentation. The "Time Capsule" was written in 1976 and tells the history of the Beavercreek Committee up to that point when Beavercreek is about to become a village. There is also an article in the Beavercreek Daily News from May 24, 1980 that gives an excellent summary of the Committee's activities from their start in 1964 to being dissolved in 1980.

Series II, Newspaper Clippings, contains newspaper clippings related to the Committee of Eleven and their legal battles and celebrations from 1965 to 1980. These articles are mainly from the Beavercreek Daily News, but also from the Dayton Daily News. This series also includes annexations plans for Fairborn and rates of taxations from 1956-1966.