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Dayton Police History Foundation Inc. DBA: DPH Foundation

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DPH Foundation is dedicated to the preservation of Dayton Police History.

It is organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes as a component fund of THE DAYTON FOUNDATION, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization. Intellectual Property / Copyright ©

Dayton Police History Foundation (DPHF) has the copyright © to written accounts and stories posted by DPHF on this site. DPHF also has proprietary rights to the montage images (in whole or part) created by DPHF as well as to its intellectual property (designs and concepts). Although the text and images posted on this site may be shared via Facebook, they may not be printed and published for the market without the expressed consent of DPHF.

11/02/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

Statement from the periodical, Gem City Saver:
“When we talk about the police, most of us aren’t qualified; we don’t really know the police…. They certainly need and deserve our recognition and respect and gratituded. After all, they are fellow human beings who have chosen to uphold right in the never-ending vigil to safeguard our lives and possessions. Without police, we would surely be lost.”

This is an excerpt from the local publication that went to print the year after fateful 1966 [see next post]. It was a retrospective article featuring a picture of the Dayton police command staff during a 1966 meeting [see previous post]. That year and years earlier, the police brass was seeing – but finding itself unable to adequately address – rising community tensions and acts.

What was alarming to the command of U.S. police departments were highly-publicized crisis incidents – such as the “Mississippi Burning” K*K murders, “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, the “Texas Tower Massacre” – that were occurring on a national level. The most prominent acts of violence and civil disorder were outbreaks of race riots in large cities around the country... 1964 in New York City’s Harlem, Philadelphia, Rochester and Jersey City; and more in LA, Chicago, and Springfield, Massachusetts in 1965.

Dayton was a major U.S. industrial base in 1965… the nation's 49th largest city with an estimated 268,630 citizens according to the Ohio Development Department. The Gem City was a large U.S. metropolitan center and as such, was not immune from social unrest. This would soon prove true in its west-side business district.

Rike's white-only hiring practices, redlining housing at Townview, open business discrimination in Yellow Springs, a Dayton K*K meeting, sit-ins, white protests, black demonstrations [see October 14-26 posts], a visible river/freeway barrier, not to mention segregated schools and disparate educational opportunities ... this was the state of local affairs, in part, as September 1, 1966 approached.

To be continued….

10/30/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

When Chief Paul Price ((career 1935-1962) was appointed in March 1955 to lead the Dayton Division of Police, the force operated much as it had since the start of the century. Race relations was quietly boxed away. However, in September 1955 Chief Price had to face what his second-in-command, Inspector Lawrence Caylor, said “was not a race riot” [see October 12 post]. Inspector Caylor would be promoted to the top and later face what he could not claim was not a racial riot.

The Dayton police force command structure – a chief, a second-in-command, and a handful of mid-level supervisors – had a fairly traditional line of succession since the 1920s. Chief Lawrence Caylor (career 1937-1967) succeeded Price as the Dayton police chief on July 16, 1962. Upon his appointment, he inherited what was described in the press as an “undermanned force,” which placed him at a disadvantage in dealing with the challenges of the 1960s.

Chief Caylor expanded the ranks of the upper command. He immediately appointed Captain Clair Martz (1935-1967) to be his Inspector (assistant chief) and then in 1965, promoted two of his captains to a newly institutued rank: Major Robert Igleburger (1939-1973) and Major Harry Book (1946-1971). These four men would be in command roles during the years leading to the forthcoming cataclysm on the city’s west side and several would continue in its fallout.

Chief Caylor retired on April 1, 1967, exactly seven months after the 1966 West Dayton riots. There was not an immediate succession. Instead, Martz was named the “interim” head. During Interim Chief Clair Martz's time in full command, the city of Dayton was at its peak in population and he was the police department’s heir apparent. But on August 1, 1967, he was unexpectedly replaced by his subordinate, Major Igleburger. In an unceremonious ending after a long, dedicated career, Chief Martz immediately retired.

Chief Robert Igleburger was viewed by the political establishment as being the more progressive leader for this time of turmoil. He would face subsequent racial disturbances in 1967 and 1968. Chief Igleburger kept the old guard: Major Book, and in 1967, newly promoted Major Grover O’Connor (1940-1982). In 1970, he appointed O’Connor to second-in-command and would fold into his command staff a civilian employee, Tyree Broomfield, who would eventually be appointed Dayton’s first black police chief… but Igleburger’s time in command is jumping ahead [see forthcoming November 30 & December 3 posts].

One thing is certain, memories did not fade in 11 years. Dayton patrolmen were well aware that rioting is extremely dangerous to their safety. What Dayton patrolmen faced in 1966 was more dangerous and lengthy than the 1955 episode.

To be continued….

10/26/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

Every year, the police faced evolving dynamics: 1961 West Dayton protest march; 1962-63 CORE demonstrations and boycotts; and 1963 Rike’s sit-in among other activities. Law enforcement found itself immersed in matters that on the surface were irregular or incidental, but in reality were emblematic of the much broader issues of racial inequality and inequitable treatment.

Incidental matter: Haircuts.
Broader consequence: Large protests and potential rioting. Simply put, reported incidents in which white barbers refused to cut the hair of black men in Dayton added salt to open wounds.

In 1964, this very thing occurred in neighboring Greene County just six months before Townview [see previous post]. A mixed group of 1,500 protesters converged on Xenia Avenue when a barber refused to cut the hair of a black patron (top left). The street was blocked by a passive-resistant sit-in of about 200 students from Central State, Wilberforce and Antioch Colleges (bottom). Deputies and police officers from three counties, including Montgomery County, arrived to deal with an out-of-control demonstration (see link below).

Law enforcement used all of its tools in the force continuum in an effort to clear the demonstration ... from forcibly dragging sitting protesters,... to using fire hoses,... to using tear gas (bottom right)… with no success. According to the New York Times on March 16, 1964, it finally came to an end when a Montgomery County Sheriff’s official read the law from the “Ohio Riot Act” to the crowd before a large formation of deputies carrying nightsticks advanced on the demonstrators (top right).

Fearing a bloody outcome, a local respected resident was able to frantically encourage the protesters to disperse but not before deputies and police arrested 109 people. Then, in April 1966 – five months before a spark ignited the westside of Dayton – that Yellow Springs barber was invited to Dayton to speak at a local meeting of the Ku Klux Klan, according to the Dayton Daily News.

To be continued….

MCSO Riot Control Training – July 1, 2026 Post
facebook.com/DaytonPoliceHistory/photos/1480776387425470

10/23/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

Throughout the 1960s, challenges to police authority were unfolding in the courts – such as Mapp v. Ohio (exclusionary rule) and Miranda v. Arizona (rights advisement) – as well as on the streets. DPD tactical team leader Sgt. Michael Brannen recalled that the “heavy-handed tactics of the ‘old school’ were not as acceptable” as they had been in the past. Revisions to laws by courts rulings were controversial, but were intended to protect citizens' rights.

Changes through legislation also advanced the civil rights movement. Racial segregation was the way of life, including in Dayton, but was to be brought to an end. Locally, “redlining” residential neighborhoods as well as other unfair housing practices (left) were commonplace. It was only a matter of time before it became a police matter, and fortunately, Dayton police purchased new protective hard hats in July 1963. Timing is everything because in September, a black couple moved west into the all-white Townview suburb. It led to hostile white protests and intervention by Montgomery County sheriff deputies with the assistance of Dayton police officers wearing the new helmets (right).

The new interstate highway system being built in Dayton in the late 1950s helped relieve automotive congestion but created another visible and symbolic barrier to white society. More than 84% of Dayton’s black population lived in West Dayton. The police department itself decided to end its practice of minority hiring quotas in 1963. At the time, the unofficial magic number of blacks serving on the force was eight – four assigned to the detective bureau and four assigned to uniform patrol.

Small measures – such as assigning one black officer per police district, or for the first time in 1962, doubling up a uniformed black officer, Ptl. Dallas Hill (career 1961-1994) with a uniformed white officer, Ptl. John Stacey (1960-1966) – did not really address the problem or perception for West Dayton citizens. Minority hiring became a police priority nationwide. By the end of the decade, Dayton had 20 black police officers. By then, it was viewed by West Dayton residents as too little, too late.

To be continued….

__________________________
Side Note: Five years later Ptl. Stacey and another partner were jumped by five men. Ptl. Stacey suffered a beating while in the line of duty, and was partially blinded in one eye. During the incident, he shot one of the assailants. He retired one month to the day before 1966 Riots. Ptl. Hill would find himself on the front line of the riots. He later became a certified polygraph operator and retired at the rank of major.

10/19/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

In the early 1960s, the nation was being confronted with rapidly changing societal attitudes regarding governmental authority. Police officers were representative of that authority. One of the Dayton police force’s earliest tactical team leaders, Sgt. Michael Brannen, recalled that police departments believed, but were unwilling to say, that citizens had totally lost respect for “the regular police officer on the streets”.

One of the reasons was the visual medium of television. As it developed, the police were seen in the worst light while dealing with brewing conflicts. TV also brought into homes conditions in society that many were unaware or to which they had closed eyes. Local conditions (as in the nation) for African-Americans were discouraging or far worse. In a 2010 interview, local historian, Margaret Peters, pointed out that blacks had only three places to eat in downtown Dayton: the bus station, the train depot, and one black restaurant.

And, so, when black customers were not readily served in Rike’s, Dayton’s largest department store, and were seldom employed there, it led to a black protest movement that necessitated police response.

On July 27, 1963, protesters with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) staged a sit-in on the 10th floor of Rike’s. Local civil rights leader, W.S. McIntosh, was seated inside the store and had to be carried away by two patrolmen (unidentified top right). Future Dayton NAACP President, Jessie Gooding, was likewise carried out of Rike’s by Patrolmen LaMar Springer (career 1953-1981), Charles Moberly (1959-1987), and Ken Goodwin (1950-1983).

The Rike’s demonstration was a sit-in… a peaceful protest. Nevertheless, 13 protesters were arrested this day by Dayton police officers. More protests with greater frequency were to come this decade. Some would be acts of passive resistance. Some would become violent. At times the anger was from whites. At times the anger was from blacks. Regardless who, in the middle were the police just doing their jobs, disdained for its authority, and often the target of the anger.

To be continued….

10/16/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

Unilike the sudden natural disaster of 1913 or the unexpected, unprecedented combustible labor dispute of 1948 – both of which required Ohio National Guard intervention – the circumstances of 1966 could be seen coming. Conditions had simmered over decades, and then boiled over with ramifications years thereafter.

The undercurrent of discontent in West Dayton was rising to the surface. Segregation was a fact in Dayton. It existed with job opportunities (or lack thereof), housing prospects (and restrictions therein), unwelcoming businesses and restaurants (implicit if not actual), and disparate educational practices (both perceived and real).

Background: The mob action in 1841 [see previous post] induced the relatively small population of black residents to move from east Dayton west into “Hell’s Half Acre” south of Eaker Street, and then across the river to “Miami City” (today, “Five Points” neighborhood). The Great Miami River at its east and later Wolf Creek to the north became the recognized natural racial boundaries… and made even more apparent by the construction of I-75 cutting through downtown.

The 1955 “riot” was a warning sign of what would come if matters were not more quickly addressed. Nationally, Martin Luther King, Jr. rose to national prominence not long thereafter with a message of peaceful protest as the way to bring about change. After hearing King speak in Atlanta in 1960, local civil rights activist W. Sumpter McIntosh adopted the use of non-violent boycotts, picketing and sit-ins as ways to bring about change. McIntosh is considered the “father of Dayton’s civil rights movement.”

He was joined in his advocacy in the ‘60s by Lelia Francis, Fred Bowers, Jessie Gooding, Bing Davis and other religious, legal and political leaders. In February 1961, McIntosh organized a 60-person march to protest discriminatory hiring practices in Dayton’s West Side. Dayton patrol cars preceded the march to divert traffic. In August 1962, McIntosh led members of the newly created Dayton chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from West Dayton (top right) to the City Commission meeting to declare “the city cannot plead ignorance" to racial discrimination in housing, jobs and education.

The pace of change was too slow. And more direct involvement by police in dealing with protesters would rise with each passing year leading to 1966.

To be continued….

10/12/2026

3rd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
III. The 1966 West Dayton – 60 years ago

Part III – It was arguably the worst riot to ever take place in Dayton, and occurred at one of the most explosive times in the United States [see three-part series Introduction below]. The killing of a black man on September 1, 1966 ignited the community.

Background: In the 19th century, the formation of the Dayton police force in 1867 was due in part to periodic rioting in what was then a single-marshal town. Pre-Civil War, outrage related to black enslavement was often the source of this lawlessness. Dayton’s “first race riot” occurred in 1841. After a clash of political anti-slavery and anti-abolition factions in the city, a white man was stabbed to death by a black man.

In an act of retaliation for the murder a week later, the cabins of three black residents were set afire in an enclave called “Africa” near Wayne Avenue. Immediately that same day, the Dayton City Council called an emergency session and deputized two-dozen local men. Teamed in groups of four per night, they were paid $1 each to patrol and protect the black neighorhood during the dark hours. This lasted 33 days until passions calmed. Over the course of decades, other mob activities would occasionally flare, including 114 years later.

In 1955, two patrolmen attempted to arrest a black man outside the West Fifth Street YMCA but he broke free and fled to Mound Street. Apprehended once again, he resisted. A crowd of “75 persons joined in the fight and… assaulted the officers.” The suspect got away. By this time, citizens had called the dispatcher. City police officers, county deputies, detectives and others responded. Uniforms were torn, a police revolver and tear gas grenades were taken after which the mob threw tear gas and gasoline-filled bottles.

Most police cruisers at the scene were damaged by rocks, bottles and sticks. There were 20 individuals injured, including half that number in lawmen. The local newspaper caption the next day read: “Police and Sheriff’s Deputies Move Toward Rioters on W. Fifth St. Officers Organize in 1000 Block, March in with Nightsticks, Big Flashlights to Meet Crowd Block Away.” Dayton Police second-in-command, Inspector Lawrence Caylor, “emphasized that the disturbance was not a race riot.”

The melee had begun at 10:55 p.m. on September 9, 1955. It ended less than two hours later at 1:30 in the morning when police and NAACP leadership cooperated to defuse this incident. That same month, a little less than 11 years later, another explosive incident would be far larger and last much longer.

To be continued….

Series Intro: Military Troops Deployed to Dayton – July 6 Post
facebook.com/DaytonPoliceHistory/photos/1484862277016881/

10/09/2026

2nd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
II. The 1948 Univis Lens Co. Strike – Nearly 80 years ago

In the end, an imperfect settlement under pressure by state authorities was intensely negotiated between the two parties to break the impasse. The “final agreement” took hold. The workers receive an extra penny on the hour (11¢ more per hour) than what the company had offered (a 10¢ raise). Governor Herbert ordered the withdrawal of the Ohio Army National Guard. This was the 94th day of the strike.

As the troops left the plant and the city of Dayton by the truckloads, a mere six pickets and maybe a dozen bystanders were there “to bid farewell.” The troops waved goodbye pledging to “be back on Monday.” In truth, the 148th infantry had been directed to be prepared to return to action if needed again. Labor historians consider the Univis strike as one of our nation's more brutal labor disturbances because it was one of the few times in U.S. history that a heavily armed military had to be deployed.

While the strike itself had ended, legal issues had not.

Louis Kaplan was tried for assaulting a police officer but on August 28, a hung jury left no verdict in the case. Chief Wurstner insisted on a retrial but it did not move forward. On September 10, six of the 11 fired Univis plant workers – all arrested in July by Dayton police – were reinstated by an arbitrator. Five remained terminated. On September 17, the UE-CIO transfered Kaplan from Dayton to Philadelphia. His 10-day sentence for contempt of court charges remained on appeal in October 1948 and for another year until October 1949. The sentence was allowed to stand.

In recognizing the efforts of the on-scene Dayton patrolmen throughout months of this ordeal, on September 1, 1948, the Dayton City Commission authorized overtime payment to those police officers for excess hours worked.

There is no known book published about this strike. A 17-page booklet was published by the UE District 7 in 1948 titled: "We Fought for Our Union!: The Story of the Univis Strike." There is also a website that gives another perspective and a chronological recap of the Univis Lens Company Strike. It was posted 60 years after the fact in 2008:

https://daytonology.blogspot.com/2008/03/60-years-ago-great-univis-strike-of.html

Next up, the prelude to Part III., the 1966 West Dayton Riots.

10/05/2026

2nd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
II. The 1948 Univis Lens Co. Strike – Nearly 80 years ago

Bolster by the a huge force of military personnel, Dayton patrolmen were able to more forcefully control the situation at the plant. The local newspaper called this “martial law,” but it was something less than that... even though a Sherman tank patrolled Leo Street and people were pushed back to Keowee Street.

Downtown, in front of the court building, UE Local 768 staged a picket protest of the judge’s decision for the long-term incarceration of Louis Kaplan. Flyers were made by union workers describing their plight.

“There are armed troops in Dayton today prepared to shoot down working people at the command of Governor Herbert.” The governor was described as a “union-buster” by using the National Guard. “The demands of the Univis workers for security for their families have been met by the Mayor, the City Commission, the City Manager and the Chief of Police with a shower of blood and beatings.”

The troops were firm throughout the week and an uneasy, unofficial truce held throughout those days. All four parties continued to talk with a more sincere aim to end the impasse. The unhappiness remained but the temperatures had lowered.

A meeting was held on Friday, August 7 to hammer out a “final agreement” through a federal conciliator from Cincinnati between the Univis Company president and the “top man” from the UE-CIO at General Motors. This meeting had the benefit of another weekend of calm because the plant was closed.

To be continued….

10/02/2026

2nd of 3 Times – Military Troops Deployed to Dayton
II. The 1948 Univis Lens Co. Strike – Nearly 80 years ago

On Sunday, August 2, and just three years after WWII, the shocking sight of tanks materialized in the downtown of a major Midwest city, soon to be under occupation in the northeast. The Ohio National Guard was prepared to take whatever action was necessary. When the Univis Lens Company resumed plant operations in the coming week, troops were directed to force peaceful spectators back at gunpoint.

Early Tuesday morning, August 3 1948, the striking resumed as the Univis plant opened for business. The Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers were stationed at the traffic circle in Northridge to divert southbound traffic from North Dixie Drive west on Siebenthaler Avenue to Main Street. National Guard troops and Dayton patrolmen on Keowee Street diverted traffic from traveling north across the Mad River bridge. Louis Kaplan, the union leader, was jailed for 10 days on a contempt of court charge.

The military mounted machine guns on the plant's roof and gates [see picture next post]. National Guardsmen – a mix of 1,200+ WWII veterans and youthful privates – were at the plant and stood at the ready with fixed bayonets on their ri**es. The soldiers substantially broke up groups of three or more people. When a crowd of 500 began to form, a tank, armored car, and six rounds from an automatic tear gas gun disperse the crowd. The troops set up a check point for cars entering the grounds.

Citizens of Dayton and union members were outraged over what was clearly being observed. This was believed to be excessive militarized action and suppression.

To be continued….

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