Dayton,Ohio

I am spending a few weeks is beautiful, exotic Dayton, Ohio- the city and state I was born and raised in. It is minus 10 degrees today so I won’t be spending much time in the sun. My body is still in shock at going from 80 plus degrees in Utila to minus 10 in Dayton. No beach or ocean in sight from here.

 Dayton is home to the Wright brothers, Wright Patterson Air Force Base but most important, home to many Hungarian, Polish, Lithuanian and German immigrants that arrived in 1920 to work on the railroads.

Hungarians began immigrating in 1899 when a man named Jacob Moskowitz recruited laborers from Hungary to work in the Dayton Malleable Iron Works foundry, and in 1905, for the Barney & Smith Railroad Car Company. Both companies are now defunct. My grandfather, Josef Czeiszperger arrived from Hungary around this time and later sent for his wife Mary and 4 of the 14 children they eventually had. He was 28 at the time he immigrated to Dayton, Ohio.

The total number of people with ethnic Hungarian background is estimated to be around 4 million in Ohio. The largest concentration is in the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area in Northeast Ohio.

Around the turn of the 20th century predominantly Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians and Germans, moved in as laborers and gave the neighborhood of old north Dayton its unique ethnic flavor represented by ethnic Roman Catholic churches, cultural festivals, social clubs, and central European food. My parents met at the annual Hungarian Festival at St. Stephens church in North Dayton where my mother was one of the Hungarian dancers performing that day. My Mexican father, from Detroit, was an iron worker helping build Wright Patterson Airforce base.

Points of interest in the neighborhoods include the Amber Rose Restaurant, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church (German), St. Adalberts Catholic Church (Polish), St. Stephen’s Catholic Church (Hungarian),Holy Cross Catholic Church (Lithuanian), and the historic Kossuth Colony. All of these churches were within blocks of each other and they all said the mass in the native language at that time.

The main campus of the Dayton Childrens Medical Center as well as Ronald McDonald House Charities are also in Old North Dayton.

My youngest sister still lives in Old North Dayton and I always look forward to going to mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Church (OLOR). The Hungarian catholic church has closed down. OLOR was the first established Catholic Church in old north Dayton and the present church was built in 1918. The catholic school on the property has taught thousands of children.  The church is one of the most beautiful I have ever been in, including many in Europe. The OLOR  fish fry is absolutely the best in the city and I had the opportunity to volunteer to squeeze water out of the thawed halibut for the event last Friday. I continue to smell like fish 3 days after the event, despite multiple washings and my hands are still a bit frozen from squeezing hundreds of fish.  

I plan to be here a few more weeks visiting family and completing routine annual medical test. For those of you over 65 you know the routine, blood work, colonoscopy, bone scan etc. I plan to move on to warmer weather ASAP.

PS. And yes, my sisters and I are all excellent Hungarian/ Mexican cooks and make all the traditional food. As my sisters say “ We are great Mexigarian chefs.”

Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church

I had my hands on every piece of fish eaten! Several classmates came to enjoy the fish!

This restaurant is still open- we ate there last week. Two Falb brothers in their 70’s operate it and cook. Hungarian sausage is a special on the menu.

Hungarian cabbage rolls-my mother insisted Hungarians were the best because they are made with pork, not beef.

A sweet dessert

Festival of St. Stephen- patron saint of Hungary

Hungarian Easter Breakfast 1956. Basket of bread were taken to St. Stephens church in the morning to be blessed. All the women had corsages. My sister Renee and I in the front, dressed alike as we were barely a year apart. My grandparents are seated behind us.

My wish for all of you as we enter 2024!