Dayton, Tennessee
Encyclopedia
Dayton is a city in Rhea County
, Tennessee
, United States
. The population was 6,180 at the 2000 census. The Dayton, TN, Urban Cluster, which includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville, Tennessee
, had 9,050 people in 2000. Dayton is the county seat
of Rhea County
.
Dayton was the site of the Scopes Trial
in 1925 dealing with the creation–evolution controversy.
Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick
was born in Dayton on Oct. 13, 1914.
Author Rachel Held Evans
resides in Dayton and writes about the town in the spiritual memoir Evolving in [[Monkey Town]].
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 6.4 square miles (16.6 km²), of which, 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) of it (3.62%) is water.
of 2000, there were 6,180 people, 2,323 households, and 1,558 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,007.9 people per square mile (389.3/km2). There were 2,492 housing units at an average density of 406.4 per square mile (157.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.70% White, 5.26% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.73% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.75% from other races
, and 1.31% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.12% of the population.
There were 2,323 households out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples
living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no male present, and 32.9% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.5% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,542, and the median income for a family was $33,149. Males had a median income of $30,521 versus $22,144 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $15,946. About 13.4% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.0% of those under age 18 and 16.6% of those age 65 or over.
. The town was incorporated in 1895.
was held in Dayton and, for a period of time, filled the town with hucksters of every description and journalists from around the world. The trial participants included William Jennings Bryan
in the role of prosecutor and Clarence Darrow
as John T. Scopes
' defense counsel.
Although this trial is often represented as being pivotal in the movement to allow evolution to be taught in US schools, it actually marked the beginning of a major decline in the teaching of evolution which didn't start to recover until the early 1960s. Likewise, the Butler Act
, which Scopes was supposed to have violated—though it was never invoked again—remained on the statute books until 1967, when it was repealed by the Tennessee Legislature.
is the largest manufacturing employer. The Tennessee Valley Authority
's Watts Bar
and Sequoyah
nuclear power plant
s are both within 20 miles (32.2 km) of the city.
Since the late 1990s the area has experienced increased residential development particularly along Chickamauga Lake
, an impoundment of the Tennessee River
, partly due to an influx of retirees.
, a four-year Christian
liberal arts
school named in honor of William Jennings Bryan
, who died in Dayton five days after the Scopes Trial ended. Dayton City School, a K-8 public school, is free for all residents of Dayton. Rhea Central Elementary School is the largest K-8 public school in the state. Oxford Graduate School
, an institution of Christian postgraduate education, is located in Dayton's Crystal Springs community.
Rhea County, Tennessee
Rhea County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 28,400. Its county seat is Dayton.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 6,180 at the 2000 census. The Dayton, TN, Urban Cluster, which includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville, Tennessee
Graysville, Tennessee
Graysville is a town in Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,411 at the 2000 census and 1,502 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Graysville is located at ....
, had 9,050 people in 2000. Dayton is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Rhea County
Rhea County, Tennessee
Rhea County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 28,400. Its county seat is Dayton.-Geography:According to the U.S...
.
Dayton was the site of the Scopes Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
in 1925 dealing with the creation–evolution controversy.
Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick
Joseph Aloysius Durick
Joseph Aloysius Durick was a U.S. Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War and the death penalty, which led to criticism from conservative circles...
was born in Dayton on Oct. 13, 1914.
Author Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans is an American author and blogger who wrote the spiritual memoir Evolving in Monkey Town published by Zondervan.-Biography:...
resides in Dayton and writes about the town in the spiritual memoir Evolving in [[Monkey Town]].
Geography
Dayton is located at 35.492840°N 85.013000°W (35.492840, -85.013000).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 6.4 square miles (16.6 km²), of which, 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) of it (3.62%) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 6,180 people, 2,323 households, and 1,558 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,007.9 people per square mile (389.3/km2). There were 2,492 housing units at an average density of 406.4 per square mile (157.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.70% White, 5.26% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.73% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.75% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.31% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.12% of the population.
There were 2,323 households out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no male present, and 32.9% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.5% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,542, and the median income for a family was $33,149. Males had a median income of $30,521 versus $22,144 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $15,946. About 13.4% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.0% of those under age 18 and 16.6% of those age 65 or over.
History
The community was originally settled around 1820 as Smith's Crossroads and was renamed Dayton in 1877. Early industry included manufacture of pig ironPig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
. The town was incorporated in 1895.
Scopes trial
In 1925 the famous Scopes TrialScopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
was held in Dayton and, for a period of time, filled the town with hucksters of every description and journalists from around the world. The trial participants included William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
in the role of prosecutor and Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
as John T. Scopes
John T. Scopes
John Thomas Scopes , was a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who was charged on May 5, 1925 for violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools...
' defense counsel.
Although this trial is often represented as being pivotal in the movement to allow evolution to be taught in US schools, it actually marked the beginning of a major decline in the teaching of evolution which didn't start to recover until the early 1960s. Likewise, the Butler Act
Butler Act
The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man’s origin. It was enacted as Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49 Section 1922...
, which Scopes was supposed to have violated—though it was never invoked again—remained on the statute books until 1967, when it was repealed by the Tennessee Legislature.
Economy
Today the city is a small manufacturing center whose products include furniture, clothing, automobile parts, and air conditioners and heating units. La-Z-BoyLa-Z-Boy
La-Z-Boy Incorporated is a furniture manufacturer based in Monroe, Michigan, USA which makes home furniture, including upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chairs, and sleeper sofas...
is the largest manufacturing employer. The Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
's Watts Bar
Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station
The Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station is a Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear reactor used for electric power generation and tritium production for nuclear weapons. It is located on a 1,770-acre site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Chattanooga and Knoxville...
and Sequoyah
Sequoyah Nuclear Generating Station
The Sequoyah Nuclear Plant is a nuclear power plant located on 525 acres located 7 miles east of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, and 20 miles north of Chattanooga, abutting Chickamauga Lake, on the Tennessee River. The facility is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority .The...
nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
s are both within 20 miles (32.2 km) of the city.
Since the late 1990s the area has experienced increased residential development particularly along Chickamauga Lake
Chickamauga Lake
Chickamauga Lake is a United States reservoir along the Tennessee River created when the Chickamauga Dam, as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority, was completed in 1940. The lake stretches from Watts Bar Dam at mile 529.9 to Chickamauga Dam at mile 471.0 making the lake 58.9 miles long...
, an impoundment of the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
, partly due to an influx of retirees.
Education
Dayton is also home to Bryan CollegeBryan College
Bryan College is a Christian liberal arts college in Dayton, Tennessee. It was founded in the aftermath of the 1925 Scopes Trial to establish an institution of higher education that would teach from a Christian worldview.-History:...
, a four-year Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
school named in honor of William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, who died in Dayton five days after the Scopes Trial ended. Dayton City School, a K-8 public school, is free for all residents of Dayton. Rhea Central Elementary School is the largest K-8 public school in the state. Oxford Graduate School
Oxford Graduate School
Oxford Graduate School is a graduate school founded in 1980 in Crystal Springs Tennessee, focused on integrating faith with traditional educational and professional disciplines. Oxford Graduate School is an accredited member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools...
, an institution of Christian postgraduate education, is located in Dayton's Crystal Springs community.
Notable Natives and Residents
- Red HoltRed HoltJames Emmett Madison Holt was an American Major League Baseball infielder. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics during the season.-References:...
(July 25, 1894 - February 2, 1961) - former Major League BaseballMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
1st Baseman with the Philadelphia Athletics - John Scopes (August 3, 1900 – October 21, 1970) - teacher charged on with violating Tennessee's Butler ActButler ActThe Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man’s origin. It was enacted as Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49 Section 1922...
. He was tried in a case known as the Scopes Monkey TrialScopes TrialThe Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
. - Howard Armstrong (March 4, 1909 – July 30, 2003) - African American string band and country blues musician
- Joseph Aloysius DurickJoseph Aloysius DurickJoseph Aloysius Durick was a U.S. Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War and the death penalty, which led to criticism from conservative circles...
(October 13, 1914 – June 26, 1994) - U.S. Roman Catholic bishopBishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
and civil rights advocate. - Dave RollerDave RollerDavid Euell Roller is a former American football defensive lineman. While at Rhea Central High School in Dayton, David earned every honor including Parade Magazine's First Team All American and had 28 individual tackles in the first TSSAA All Star game in Nashville, TN, coached by Red...
- former NFL defensive lineman - Kathryn Dee Robinson - former United States Ambassador to GhanaUnited States Ambassador to GhanaThe following is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to Ghana. The Embassy in Accra was established March 6, 1957, with Donald W. Lamm in charge as chargé d'affaires.-Ambassadors:*Donald W...
- Rachel Held EvansRachel Held EvansRachel Held Evans is an American author and blogger who wrote the spiritual memoir Evolving in Monkey Town published by Zondervan.-Biography:...
- author of Evolving in Monkey Town - Taryn Balwinski Wilson - Junior Miss Wheelchair Tennessee 2007
- Alonzo Smith Jake GaitherJake GaitherAlonzo Smith "Jake" Gaither was the head football coach at Florida A&M University for 25 years, and amassed one of the best winning records of any college football coach....
(April 11, 1903 – February 18, 1994) Hall of Fame head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) for 25 years. Won six black national championships and amassed one of the highest winning percentages in collegiate history.