Bill Gates visits NCR archive dedication in Dayton

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates attended Dayton History’s ribbon-cutting for the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center on Saturday, May 30, 2026—an archive meant to preserve NCR’s corporate and engineering history in a former Dayton building that is not

Bill Gates stepped into a Dayton building with the kind of focus that usually comes from memory—then lingered over the details of a company history that once shaped this region.

At the dedication of the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center, gates of a different kind were opened: not for visitors yet, but for the records themselves. The ribbon-cutting took place on Saturday, May 30, 2026, hosted by Dayton History.

Paula Hurd, standing at the ceremony, recognized a donation from the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Gates described how NCR and Microsoft worked together on an early project. pointing to “a very early project” involving an “early type of data-entry terminal.” He said Microsoft’s relationship with NCR didn’t stop there. continuing through the decades—particularly with work on the development of the Windows NT Server at its inception in 1992.

Gates also tied NCR’s later tech moves to the wider story. In the 1990s, NCR acquired Teradata, a database analytics software company, after AT&T Corporation acquired NCR. In 1998, Microsoft partnered with NCR Teradata on data warehousing and e-commerce software. NCR and Teradata later separated in the early 2000s.

Hurd’s role in this archive is personal, and the ceremony made that clear. Paula Hurd gave the lead gift for the NCR Archive Center in honor of her late husband. Mark. who was a former CEO of NCR Corporation. Before becoming president and CEO, Mark Hurd managed the company’s Teradata division. Paula Hurd also worked for NCR Corporation for nearly two decades in sales and service positions.

During the dedication, Gates recalled coming to Dayton repeatedly—so often it left him with a specific image. “I came out to Dayton several times and actually stayed in the Wright brothers’ home on one of those visits,” he said.

Paula Hurd placed the Microsoft connection inside an even older timeline. “In 1979, Microsoft received one of its largest orders from NCR,” she said. “Bill, in kind, made a very generous donation to the center.”

Gates was not just a visiting figure at the event. He is listed as one of the donors to the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center.

As of February 2026, Gates’ net worth stood at $107.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

The archive itself is built for the physical evidence of how NCR operated—down to the drawings and the paperwork that document decisions and design. The Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center will preserve many historical documents connected to NCR. including engineering drawings. blueprints. photographs. and NCR corporate records. It also includes a collection of more than 300 scrapbooks that feature some of those documents.

The center is located in the former Neil’s Heritage House building at 2323 W. Schantz Ave. in Dayton. Even with the dedication ceremony completed, it is not currently open to the public.

And as the event marked a formal moment for NCR’s past. the story around it carried a second. quieter message: this kind of corporate history doesn’t preserve itself. It takes donors. organizers. and long attention—like Paula Hurd’s work in memory of Mark Hurd. and Gates’ willingness to return to Dayton’s story through the records that now have a place to live.

Bill Gates Dayton History NCR Archive Center Mark Hurd Paula Hurd NCR Microsoft Teradata Windows NT Server Dayton Ohio