President Nixon giving a speech at Dayton’s Old Court House…

For more than 150 years, crowds of citizens have gathered at the corner of Third and Main Streets in downtown Dayton to witness and take part in a variety of judicial, civic and political happenings. Over the last two centuries at least twenty of our nation’s Presidents have visited Dayton; many of whom stood in the shade of the courthouse’s grand columns to address the local citizenry. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy were just a few of our nation’s leaders who have stood upon the steps at the Old Court House. President Richard M. Nixon visited Dayton twice and during both visits he spoke to gathered crowds at the Old Court House. In this picture, then Vice President Nixon, is speaking to Daytonians in October of 1960, during his run against John F. Kennedy for the U.S. presidency. The estimated crowd of 22,000 people listened to Nixon’s speech intently, despite having to stand in a rainstorm, as evidenced by the number of umbrellas present in the picture. This week’s photo is from Dayton History’s Image Collection.

To see other historical images from our collection, search our Digital Photo Archive.