Pierce Davies Schenck ( d. 15 October 1930 , Dayton , Ohio ) was an entrepreneur in the metalworking business in Dayton , Ohio . He used the garage behind his house on South Brown Street to work on automobiles and in April 1907 incorporated the Speedwell Motor Car Company . Speedwell purchased and occupied a former Dayton Machine Tool Company factory on Essex Avenue in Dayton 's Edgemont neighborhood , a site that later hosted a Delco factory . The factory provided temporary space to the Wright Company in 1910 before the completion of its new airplane factory in west Dayton . The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 inundated the Speedwell factory , destroying machinery and automobiles , and the company proved unable to recover and entered receivership in 1915 . Schenck later became president of the Dayton Malleable Iron Company and turned his focus to adapting high silicon iron alloys to practical uses . This led to his establishing the Duriron Company , a name which he coined , in 1917 . It prospered through high demand for its products generated by the First World War and employed 1,500 people , becoming one of Dayton 's leading industries . His home at 414 Oakwood Avenue in Oakwood was designed by Dayton architect Albert Pretzinger in 1927
Great Dayton Flood
Great Dayton Flood
Pierce Schenck