About Front Street

What Is Front Street in Dayton?

Front Street is Dayton’s experiential hub for art and culture.

Since 1965, historic industrial buildings have been transformed into a vibrant, creative campus that is home to the region’s largest collective—more than 200 artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs—working in everything from painting, sculpting, photography, and glassblowing to jewelry, textile design, custom cabinetry, and furniture design and repair.

Explore the unique boutiques, galleries, and studios, including a hair salon, gym, and large-format digital printer, during regular weekly hours and at the monthly First Friday Art Hop in Dayton from 5:00-9:00pm with live music and food trucks. Connecting Creativity with Community.

Explore Front Street

Artists, Artisans & Galleries in Dayton

Front Street is Dayton’s experiential hub for art and culture.

Watch local artists and skilled artisans at work. Step inside their Dayton studios and explore a vibrant mix of painters, sculptors, photographers, glassblowers, jewelers, and potters, among others. Support local talent and purchase artistic works in galleries featuring rotating exhibits.

Visit Front Street in Dayton

Boutique Shops & Small Businesses

Visit specialty shops and locally owned small businesses at Front Street offering a variety of products and services from textile design, custom cabinetry, and vintage barware to a gym, hair salon, and large-format digital printer, among others. Our entrepreneurial energy packs a punch that helps power Dayton’s economy and vibrant cultural community. Support local.

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Events & Experiences at Front Street

Enjoy a wide range of seasonal community events including monthly First Friday Art Hops in Dayton, holiday markets, live art demonstrations, and special celebrations with live entertainment and family-friendly activities designed to bring the community together.

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Our Rich History

Front Street started out as a utilitarian manufacturing plant in 19th-century Dayton. Its campus evolved in the latter half of the 20th century to become the hub of art and culture it is today.

Front Street’s buildings first served as a production point for all the federal government’s stamped envelopes — back in the early 1900s, when Dayton was a national focal point of the manufacturing industry.

However, it was fated to become a different cultural touchstone; in the 1960s, the campus was bought by the Miller family, who wanted to capitalize on the large number of artists and craftspeople in the city in need of somewhere to work. That decision laid the groundwork for Front Street as we know it today: the largest community of artists and artisans in Dayton.

Dayton’s Hydraulic Industrial District

1840s-1850s

Front Street’s original interconnected buildings comprised the Mead and Mixon Paper Mill, built in 1856, which eventually became the Mead Paper Company. Developed by the Dayton Hydraulic Company, the area was part of Dayton’s manufacturing industry. These businesses used hydraulic flow for both direct mechanical power and power generation.

Mercantile Era

1900s-1920s

In 1907, Mercantile Corporation received a USPS contract to print envelopes for the federal government; they chose the old Mead Paper Factory as their base of operations. At their peak, Mercantile was the world's largest envelope manufacturer, producing 18 million envelopes per day. Their work was powered by the canal that ran between the interconnected buildings, which was eventually filled in to become the literal Front Street.

Artistic Turning Point for Front Street

1960s-1970s

Front Street continued to be an envelope-manufacturing factory for decades after the Mercantile Corp’s reign; International Envelopes worked out of the campus until 1965, when the lot and buildings were bought by the Miller family. They envisioned the empty studios as potential incubators that could serve as a workplace for Dayton’s many artists, as well as play host to small machine shops for its craftspeople.

Skateboarding Culture

1980s-1990s

From ramps in the corridors to sunken bowls in the studios, Front Street’s buildings were a haven for skater culture in its heyday. Alien Workshop, a renowned skateboard company, got its start at Front Street; even now, the campus’ artists repurpose old skater paraphernalia left behind or customize skateboards as part of their art.

Front Street Today

2015-present

For more than a decade now, Front Street’s property manager has been Richard Lundin, who also stepped into the role of owner several years ago to bring Front Street into the modern age of artistic collaboration. Today, the campus features more than 225 artists and artisans, 80 working art studios, 25 businesses, boutiques, and shops, 14 galleries, and a variety of monthly and annual signature events.