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C−History
History · Dayton

Dayton’s post office opened in 1862

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #20 of 42 in Nevada. What drives it

Most of Dayton was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1970.

1862first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dayton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dayton began

When was Dayton founded?

1862

The Dayton post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Mineral Rapids (1860) and Sutro (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 826 in 19702020 census: 15,153164 years

How historic is Dayton?

C−

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Dayton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Dayton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dayton is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #20 of 42 in Nevada. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dayton’s overall grade.
Founding era1862, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.0% of homes (±1.0) · typical NV town 0.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical NV town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%
NewerOlder
Nevada towns of 2,500+ (42)Ahead of 54%

Few Nevada towns list much on the Register (a typical Nevada town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dayton’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (29% of Nevada towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Dayton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dayton, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1890 to 1930, drew every building in Dayton.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dayton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dayton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSutro Tunnel Entrance, Comstock Mines v…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Dayton’s post office has been open since 1862. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mineral Rapids
1860–1861
Dayton
1862–today
Sutro
1872–1920
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Carson Rapids CityJohntownSutro
Gone or out of use
Atlanta MilllocaleAurora MilllocaleBarrys MilllocaleCarson River Quartz MilllocaleCarson Valley MilllocaleDayton Placer MinemineDayton StationlocaleDesert MilllocaleEldorado Canyon QuarrymineFranklin MilllocaleFreeborn and Sheldons MilllocaleFrothingham and Company MilllocaleGautiers MilllocaleGoldylocaleHastings and Woodworth MilllocaleIllinois MilllocaleIsland MilllocaleLeversy Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Dayton
Dayton

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Every building

Dayton, building by building, 1890–1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Dayton fire insurance map, 1890, sheet 11890Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Dayton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dayton.

Read it all →

Dayton is at the western end of the Twenty-Six Mile Desert at a bend in the Carson River. Immigrants stopping there for water would decide whether to follow the river south or continue west, giving the location its first name, Ponderers Rest. In 1849, Abner Blackburn, while heading for California, discovered a gold nugget in nearby Gold Creek, a tributary of the Carson River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dayton, 1860 to 1956

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860Post officeThe Mineral Rapids post office opens
  3. 1861Post officeThe Mineral Rapids post office closes
  4. 1862Post officeThe Dayton post office opens
  5. 1870Born hereHelen Rulison Shipley is born here
  6. 1872Post officeThe Sutro post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1920Post officeThe Sutro post office closes
  9. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dayton, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Sutro Tunnel Entrance, Comstock Mines vicinityDate?Sutro Tunnel Entrance, Comstock Mines vicinity
Today11 recent
2015-10-30 13 07 51 View south up the Carson River from Nevada State Route 822 (Dayton Valley Road) in20152015-10-30 13 07 51 View south up the Carson River fr…Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton, Nevada with Carson City in Background2014Dayton, Nevada with Carson City in BackgroundDayton and Mound House, Nevada2014Dayton and Mound House, NevadaDayton and Mound House, Nevada2014Dayton and Mound House, NevadaMid Day at the Oasis, California Immigrant Trail-Lincoln Highway near Virginia City-Dayton, NV, 20122012Mid Day at the Oasis, California Immigrant Trail-Linc…Dayton, Nevada Historical Marker No. 72011Dayton, Nevada Historical Marker No. 7
On the map

Dayton on the map, 1956 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dayton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Dayton on the 1956 USGS mapDayton on the 1987 USGS mapDayton on the 1993 USGS map1956Dayton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dayton.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Sutro Tunnel Entrance, Comstock Mines vicinity
Retake this viewSutro Tunnel Entrance, Comstock Mines vicinity

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dayton’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Dayton, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00019802000202015,153

Grew from 826 people in 1970 to 15,153 in 2020, more than tenfold.

5 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dayton’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Silver CityIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dayton’s history

What year was Dayton founded?

The Dayton post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Dayton rank for history?

Dayton is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #20 of 42 in Nevada. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Dayton?

1% of Dayton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 0.3% for a Nevada town; the median home was built in 2002.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (11), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.