Dayton, Home of the First Stepladder!

You didn’t know that, did you? The first stepladder in the world was made by the Daytonian John Balsey in 1865. John was a carpenter by trade and had a shop on East First Street in downtown Dayton - Hey, I’ve sold a few homes in that area during my career in real estate sales! 

He saw the need to have a safe, repeatable way to get to things above his reach. He experimented with several designs and landed on a wooden edition he had patented in 1870.  From then on he worked on the manufacture and sale of his creation earning him fame as “The Stepladder King.” Think of life prior to the stepladder, we just climbed and stacked things to reach items above us. Being a Realtor and selling homes in the Dayton area I enjoy sharing some of Dayton’s rich history and why it’s such a great place to call home!