A postal office operated in the community from 21 July 1864 to present with brief stops in service during the American Civil War.[2] By 1878, the town expanded to three general stores and a wheelwright shop. One of the former is Maloney's General Store, built shortly after the Civil War, which served as a stagecoach stop and was later owned by Royal Harp III, Thomas Isaacs, Mr White, and the Grant family.[3]
The Dayton single-room school house was located along Green Bridge Road. After a fire in the single-room schoolhouse for colored children, a new brown tile two-room school was built at the crossroads of Ten Oaks, Green Bridge and Howard roads, and the colored children moved to the old white school. The two-room school is now on property owned by RLO Contractors.[4]
Modern Dayton
Dayton is in the 21036 zip code area and belongs to the 410 area code. The post office is still operating today.[dubious – discuss]
Dayton is also the home to the annual Dayton Daze Parade that began in honor of Lenny Hobbs. The Hobbs Family gas station was prominent in the crossroads community.[5]
The 21036 zip code is the wealthiest in the Baltimore metropolitan area as of 2013, with an average family net worth of $1.85 million, and is listed as a "super" zip code.[6] The median home value was $975,000 in 2016, with an average home size of 3,410 square feet.[7]
In 2014, a zoning case to move a large industrial mulching operation operated by a Sandy Spring Bank executive and RLO[clarification needed] president from Trinity Church in Elkridge to agricultural preservation land in Dayton prompted a large citizen reaction.[8]
