St. Anne's Hill
A Historic Perspective

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   With the opening of the Miami-Erie Canal in 1845, housing demand substantially increased due to the influx of immigrants, primarily of German origin. This promoted platting of the area which began in 1845 by T.J.S. Smith, a noted attorney, banker and teacher. This German influence is evident in the building that houses the Dayton Liederkranz-Turner Society, still located in the neighborhood at Fifth & High Street.

   In the 1850's, real estate tycoon Albert McClure built the original part of the house now called "The Steamboat House," located at 6 Josie Street. Additional prominent homes followed in the 1860's such as "The Sister Houses," 204 and 208 S. Dutoit Street, (vernacular Gothic and Romanesque influences), and the "Bossler Mansion", 136 S. Dutoit Street (French Second Empire style).

   From the late 1860's to the 1880's, additional working-class homes were built in the neighborhood to serve the demands of the ever-increasing German immigrant population who came to serve Dayton industries associated with the building and industrial trades, canal trade, railroad trade, and the domestic needs of the large estate homes on The Hill. These working-class homes (typically two-story, wood-frame, vernacular, Victorian, single-family homes on narrow lots with detached carriage houses) reflect progressive improvement in the social and economic stature of the neighborhood during those years. The homes built during the 1860's are modest, but those built in the 1870's have more interesting architectural detail, and those built during the 1880's were quite ornate and more expensive.