Motorcycle Police…

On August 17, 1883, the Dayton Police Force adopted its first form of mobile transportation, a police patrol wagon. The wagon served as a multi-purpose conveyance with duties including ambulance removal, prisoner transfer and patrolman transport to assignments. The first Patrol House established for the care and storage of the wagon was a vacant fire house located at 15 Brown Street, near Fifth Street. As years passed by and other means of transportation came onto the national scene, the Dayton Police Department adopted these modes and incorporated them into their policing activities. Patrolmen walking their beats would later be augmented with bicycles and later, motorcycles by February 1911. By the late teens and early 1920s, there was also sparing use of automobiles as the department adapted and as city budgets would allow. Featured in this image, circa 1920s, is an officer on his motorcycle with a sidecar. This photograph is from the NCR Archive at Dayton History.

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