William Shakespeare never visited Beavercreek, but if he had - I he'd surely have loved it... and even found his way around!

Hanes Road didn’t exist in 1874, it eventually tracked north along the property line of the 217 acre farm of Jonathan Hanes on the east and a 137 acre tract owned by Moses M. Shoup, on the west.

Throughout the years many businesses have called these shopping centers home: G.D. Ritzy’s, Cap’n Bogey’s, Mr. Gatti's, Beavercreek Cinema, Bud Frantz’s Fairfield Inn, Char-Burger, Scottie’s, Imperial Grocer, and many, many, many more.

The southeast corner has changed quite dramatically.  The Kroger, which originally faced Dayton-Xenia Road, was demolished and now faces North Fairfield Road.

In the late 1970's a bar named The Mouse That Roared was located at the west end of the strip center.  It was allegedly quite the meat market!  As the story goes, a major entertainment complex in the Orlando, Florida area didn't appreciate The Mouse's representation of their major rodent character being inebriated in a cocktail glass on their sign!  A graphic of their two rodents doing the popular 70's dance 'The bump' on the side of their supply van was more than W.D. could take.  The Mouse was ultimately sued... so much for creative marketing!

Later, the location re-opened as Wolfie's - another bar / dance club.  In the interest of maintaining a G-rating on the site, we'll defer on sharing Wolfie's stories...

• Cap'n Bogeys Cap'n Bogeys
• Cap'n Bogeys Lobby Cap'n Bogeys Lobby
• Friendlys Friendlys
• Wolfie's Matchbook Wolfie's Matchbook
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The second, and more successful mass transit line was The Dayton and Xenia Traction Company, although there were numerous owners and names that followed.  We'll refer to this company as 'The Traction' as it was 100+ years ago.  Carrying its first passengers on January 23, 1900, its route cut through farmland, roughly following Main Street out of Xenia to Trebein, south of the railroad tracks.  

It looped to the south side of the town of Alpha, followed the train tracks to Shoup's Station and ultimately to this point (the car barn was located at the site of Lyndon's Automotive on the southeast corner), the location of the car barn and power station.  From here, it proceeded west via Watervliet, Wayne Ave., Phillips Avenue and then Wyoming Street to South Main Street in Dayton.

To stop the trolley, one just stood by the side of the track and signalled the oncoming trolley with a wave of the hand.

Per Elizabeth Shoup-Belden: "January 29, 1900, the noon car on its route to Dayton had failure of air brakes when going down Phillips Avenue hill jumped the tracks at the foot of the hill.  There were about twelve passengers aboard.  Among the passengers were two young ladies, very close friends, who had boarded the trolley at Alpha.  These two, Mill Hallie Klunk and Miss Jeanette Hagenbuch, were seated together, Hallie by the window.  When the trolley left the track, Miss Klunk was thrown through the window and fatally injured.  Miss Hagenbuch was miraculously saved, receiving only minor bruises.

Mr. Fred Hawker, a farmer living near Alpha, was also fatally injured.  There were other serious injuries, especially the motorman, but all recovered."

• Passenger Traction Car Passenger Traction Car
• Passenger Traction Car and Barn Passenger Traction Car and Barn
• Freight Traction Car Freight Traction Car
• View of Traction barn View of Traction barn
• Pre-Paid Freight Coupons Pre-Paid Freight Coupons
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Turn left onto Grange Hall Road.  Beyond the driveway at the south side of Carter Lumber is a long fencerow and path heading east, this was the B&O rail line.  To the west it follows the 835 bypass and crosses Spaulding Road at the southern s-curve.  Once over the Little Beaver Creek Bridge, pause at the stop sign onto Patterson Road.

The initial mass transit system between Dayton and Xenia was The Rapid Transit Company.  In operation from approximately 1898 to 1908, this company literally operated on tracks imbedded into the compacted 'Old Route 35', now known as Dayton-Xenia Road.  It left Xenia via N.Detroit Street to Fairgrounds Road, then cutting through a valley to Trebein.  From there it followed Dayton-Xenia Road all the way into Dayton.  An electric trolley system, the power station was located at Lucas' Grove Park, now Kil-Kare Race Park.  The line struggled due to its rough road bed and eventually became unprofitable, leading to its early demise.  If you'd like to tour one of the Rapid Transit rail cars please visit Carillon Park in Dayton - it's worth the price of admission!

Continue east toward North Fairfield Road.  The barn at Deal’s Landscaping was built in the 1850’s by the Miller family on Hanes Road, disassembled, and moved to this location in 1988.

Ahead on the right was the Hail & Hearty restaurant, which started as a Hasty Tasty, Char-Burger, The Shamrock, then Mama Bear's, and later Debra Lee’s, Naomi's, Grandpa's Cafe and most recently Woody’s Barbeque.  The building was demolished in 2016 to make way for an automotive repair shop and strip center.

Does anyone remember a restaurant named The Omen?

• Cha-R-Burger Cha-R-Burger
• The Omen Restaurant The Omen Restaurant
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