Dayton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States. Dayton is located southwest of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and north of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, between Clarksville and Glenelg.

History

A postal office operated in the community from 21 July 1864 to present with brief stops in service during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. 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. 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 A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the one-room schoolhouse, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for primary and secondary education in a small community or rural area. While providing the same function as a c ...

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.

Modern Dayton

Dayton is in the 21036 zip code area and belongs to the 410 area code. Local landmarks are the Crossroads Pub (Floyd's Crossroads Pub since 2014) famed for their Maryland

blue crab Blue crab may refer to: * Blue Crab 11, an American sailboat design * ''Callinectes sapidus'' – Chesapeake or Atlantic blue crab of the West Atlantic, introduced elsewhere * '' Cardisoma guanhumi'' – blue land crab of the West Atlantic * '' Dis ...

s and once owned by the Harp family (Harp's Pub), who also owned Harp's grocery store, the Post Office, Hobbs Service Station, and a large wooden rabbit (severely damaged and removed in the mid-2010s), which was decorated for major holidays. The post office is still operating today. 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. Although rural, Dayton is a high-income area, with a median household income of $196,494 in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The 21036 zip code is the wealthiest in the

Baltimore metropolitan area The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As of the 2010 Census, t ...

as of 2013, with an average family net worth of $1.85 million, and is listed as a "super" zip code. The median home value was $750,000 in 2013, with an average home size of 4,923 square feet. In 2014, a zoning case to move a large industrial mulching operation operated by a Sandy Spring Bank executive and RLO president from Trinity Church in Elkridge to agricultural preservation land in Dayton prompted a large citizen reaction.

References

Year of establishment missing Unincorporated communities in Howard County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland {{HowardCountyMD-geo-stub