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Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana, the middle child in a family of five children.
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Orville was born in Datton, Ohio. he was one of five children of Susan Catherine Koerner, and Milton Wright, a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
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The brothers started their own newspaper, the West Side News. Wilbur edited the paper and Orville was the publisher.
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The brothers shared a passion for bicycles—a new craze that was sweeping the country. In 1892, Wilbur and Orville opened a bike shop, fixing bicycles and later selling their own designs.
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On December 17, 1903, they succeeded in flying the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane. An extraordinary achievement, Wilbur flew the plane for 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.
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The Wright brothers soon found that their success was not appreciated by all. Many in the press, as well as fellow flight experts, were reluctant to believe the brothers' claims. As a result, Wilbur set out for Europe in 1908, where he hoped he would have more success convincing the public and selling airplanes.
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On May 25, 1910, Orville flew for six minutes with Wilbur as his passenger—marking the first and only flight the brothers would make together. That same day, Orville took his 82-year-old father out for the first and only flight of his life.
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Wilbur Wright fell ill on a trip to Boston in April 1912. After being diagnosed with typhoid fever, he died on May 30, 1912, at his family home in Dayton, Ohio.
