Library and Archives News

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New Library System

February 10, 2025

Exciting changes are coming to the library in June 2025! The University Libraries (along with all academic libraries in Ohio) will be moving to a new library system this summer.

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Dayton's Union Station, interior, demolition (MS-458)
From the Archives

Dayton’s Union Station: Later Years 1960s+

Originally posted June 16, 2016

January 29, 2025

By the early 1960s, Dayton’s passenger rail needs had been reduced so much that such a huge depot as Union Station was no longer required. Therefore, in the summer of 1964, the huge tower depot was demolished and the offices moved to smaller depot facilities. The new depot was dedicated in September 1964.

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A group of four people talking by a snowmobile pulling a sled
From the Archives

Blizzard of 1978

Originally posted March 3, 2011

January 29, 2025

Dayton is no stranger to severe weather. The most notable is perhaps the Blizzard of 1978. In January and February of 1978, a series of three storms hit the Miami Valley. (This post originally posted on March 3, 2011)

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Old Miami-Erie Canal lock and lock keeper’s dwelling near Findlay St. & Mad River, Dayton
From the Archives

Miami-Erie Canal

January 29, 2025

The Miami and Erie Canal was constructed from 1825 to 1845 and connected the Ohio River at Cincinnati with Lake Erie near Toledo. The portion of the canal between Cincinnati and Dayton was completed in 1829.

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Xenia tornado on April 3, 1974.
From the Archives

Xenia Tornado of 1974

Originally posted April 19, 2011

January 29, 2025

On April 3, 1974 an F-5 tornado tore through the heart of Xenia, killing 33 people and injuring more than 1,300 others. It bulldozed a path more than a half-mile wide, destroying or damaging more than 1,400 buildings, including 1,200 homes, dozens of businesses, 10 churches, and several schools. By the time it lifted into the sky near Cedarville, it left behind more than $100 million of damage in Greene County.

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