A Railroad Flag Stop Helped Turn West Liberty into Dayton

Dayton began as West Liberty, the part of Liberty west of the Trinity River. A road and ferry connected the two sides. Isaiah Cates Day arrived in West Liberty in 1830 and later became a businessman and rancher. In 1858, he supplied labor as the Texas-New Orleans Railroad was built through the community.

West Liberty became a railroad flag stop when the line was completed in 1860. Conductors called the stop Days Station, Days Town, or Dayton Station. The local post office took the Dayton name around 1877, and by 1885 Dayton was the town's official name.

Sawmills helped the town prosper around the turn of the century. Families arrived by train after a developer advertised fertile farmland, and a drainage system helped rice become the major crop. By 1902, Dayton had a depot, schoolhouse, two churches, four general stores, two drugstores, a livery stable, a blacksmith shop, and a post office. The city's short name carries the sequence: Isaiah Day, a flag stop, a post office, then a town.