Dayton

City in southwestern Ohio, USA, on the junction of the Great Miami and Stillwater rivers, 75 km/47 mi north of Cincinnati; seat of Montgomery County; population (2000 est) 166,200. It is the centre of an agricultural region and the hub of a large metropolitan area; industries include the manufacture of motor vehicle parts, business machines, household appliances, and electrical equipment. It has an aeronautical research centre and was the home of aviators Wilbur and Orville Wright.

History
Dayton was first settled by Europeans in 1796, and incorporated as a town in 1805, as a city in 1841. The city was named after one of the signatories of the American constitution, Gen Jonathan Dayton (1760–1824). It developed as a river port after the opening of the Miami–Erie Canal in 1829. James Ritty (1837–1918) invented the cash register here in the 1880s. Dayton has 93 entries on the national register of historic places.