Dayton, Yamhill County, Oregon Genealogy

Dayton, Oregon- Dayton is incorporated and boasts of a population of about 400. It is located at the head of navigation on the Yamhill river, 33 miles southwest of Portland. The place has connection with Portland by a line operating a steamer which makes a trip every alternate day between the two points. The line of the narrow-gauge division of the Southern Pacific system of railroads in Oregon passes a point within one mile of Dayton, and the citizens of the latter place hope to have the cards of this line running into their town direct before the close of the present year. A stage line carrying both freight and passengers makes two trips a day to LaFayette and St. Joseph, making connection at the latter point with the cars of the Southern Pacific Company's West Side division. The total length of this stage line is five miles.
     Although at the present writing no manufacturing is done at Dayton, the town offers exceptional opportunities for the establishment of factories here on a small scale. The extent of the rich tributary farming district is shown by the large quantities of hops, fruits and various other products of the soil which are regularly shipped by the water line from Dayton to Portland.
     The Dayton public school building recently erected at a cost of $6,000 occupies a sightly[sic] location. The average daily attendance at the school is about 100. A principal and one assistant teacher preside over the school here, which is well conducted.
     Dayton supports four churches of the Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical and Free Methodist denominations. Each denomination owns its church building. The town hall has a seating capacity of about 300. Two weekly papers are supported here, The Herald and The News. Traveling men find a good hotel at this point, and also a livery stable. Dayton is the present time makes no pretensions to great commercial importance, but is a prosperous town containing a happy and contended lots of people, and the possibilities for a future steady growth are equal to those of the other favorably located valley points.

The Oregonian's Handbook of the Pacific Northwest, c. 1894