Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and now a billionaire philanthropist, attended the dedication of Dayton History’s Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center, an extensive corporate archive of what was once one of Dayton’s most influential corporations.
“NCR and Microsoft worked together on a very early project,” Gates said, referring to an early type of data-entry terminal.
Microsoft’s relationship with NCR continued over the next decades, including working together on the development of Windows NT Server at its founding in 1992.
In the 1990s, after AT&T Corporation acquired NCR, NCR acquired Teradata, a database analytics software company. In 1998, Microsoft partnered with NCR Teradata on data warehousing and e-commerce software. NCR and Teradata later parted ways in the early 2000s.
“I came to Dayton several times and actually stayed at the Wright brothers’ house on one of those visits,” Gates said.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, (left) speaks to an attendee at the dedication of the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center on Saturday, May 30, 2026.
Gates Mark and Paula Hurd were one of the donors of the NCR Archive Center, for which Dayton History held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, May 30. According to Forbes magazine, as of February 2026, Gates’ net worth was $107.7 billion.
Paula Hurd made the lead gift for the NCR Archive Center in honor of her late husband, Mark, the former CEO of NCR Corporation. Before becoming the company’s President and CEO, Mark Hurd managed the company’s Teradata division. Paula Hurd also worked in sales and service positions for NCR Corporation for nearly two decades.
Paula Hurd said, “In 1979, Microsoft received one of the largest orders ever from NCR.” “Bill, in a way, made a very generous donation to the center.”
The Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center will be home to many two-dimensional aspects of NCR’s history, including engineering drawings, blueprints, photographs, and NCR corporate records. There is a collection of over 300 scrapbooks representing some of these documents.
The Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center is located in the former Neal Heritage House building at 2323 W. Shantz Avenue in Dayton, but it is not currently open to the public.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, (left) speaks to an attendee at the dedication of the Mark and Paula Hurd NCR Archive Center on Saturday, May 30, 2026.
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