Ballard / Bailey House

The Ballard/Bailey House gained an unusual place in history during the Scopes Trial as the temporary residence of Joe Mendi, the famed chimpanzee who was evicted from the Bailey Boarding House. Marketed as “The $100,000 Chimpanzee with the Intelligence of a Five-Year-Old,” Mendi was a spectacle amid the media frenzy surrounding the trial. Today, the house remains privately owned, its unique past woven into Dayton’s storied history.