Texas Historical Marker #09651
First Baptist Church of Dayton. The first Baptist congregation in Dayton was formed in 1878, when ten worshipers gathered together to begin a church. A one-room schoolhouse, located on what is now East Cook Street, was used for worship services until 1895. The church's first pastor was the Rev. E. M. Forman, a circuit riding minister. Other traveling clergymen also pastored the small church in its early years, including D. W. Jackson, J. McArthur Black, J. A. Lee, J. F. McLeod, and J. M. Day. In 1895 the Baptist congregation began conducting services in a Union Church on the southeast corner of Waring and North Main streets. In 1901, following damage to the Union Church in the hurricane of 1900, construction began on a baptist sanctuary near this site on South Church Street. Throughout its history the First Baptist congregation has sought to serve its community. A Ladies Aid Society was organized in 1911, and the first of many local missions was established in 1912. A youth ministry also began in 1912. The church congregation has maintained an active involvement in both home and foreign missionary projects. #9651
115 S. Church St., Dayton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09652
First Methodist Church of Dayton. Methodist worship services were conducted in West Liberty, later known as Dayton, as early as 1855. By 1900 the First Methodist Church had a full-time pastor, the Rev. G. T. Newberry, who conducted services in the Dayton schoolhouse on North Main Street. In 1906 the congregation built its first sanctuary. A one-story wooden structure with a bell tower, which continued to serve the members until 1928. A church school also was organized in 1906, and Charles Wilson was elected to serve as the first superintendent. A series of worship and education facilities were constructed to accommodate the growing congregation through the years, including a large two-story brick building with a basement on the northwest corner of Houston Avenue and Cleveland Street in 1928. Due to continued growth, the 1928 structure was razed in 1980, and the congregation built a new sanctuary in 1981. After a denominational merger in 1968, the church's name was changed to first United Methodist Church. throughout the years the congregation has served the community with a variety of worship, educational, social, and missionary programs. #9652
106 S. Cleveland St., Dayton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09683
The Runaway Scrape. Famous flight of Texians to escape Santa Anna's invading Mexican army. Tales of the Alamo butchery on March 6, 1836, and the continuing retreat of Gen. Sam Houston's army prompted colonists to abandon homes and property and seek refuge in east Texas. Families left beds unmade, breakfast uneaten, and ran for their lives, traveling in wagons, carts, sleds, on foot, or by horseback, dropping gear as they went. Many Liberty Countians remained at home until mid-April, helping refugees struggle toward the Sabine in order to cross to safety in the United States. Terrible hardships plagued the runaways trying to ferry the swollen Trinity River. In rain-soaked camps many children died of measles and other ills. Wading through flooded bottomlands, the wayfarers came with relief to the prairie and the Samaritans in Liberty. After resting a few days, tending the sick, and burying the dead, most of the wanderers moved on toward Louisiana. East of Liberty, stragglers heard the cannonading at the Battle San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Fearing that Santa Anna's legions had whipped the ragged Texian forces, they hurried on, but shortly heard joyful news: "Turn back, turn back". Freedom had been won for them by Sam Houston's army. #9683
US 90, Dayton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09688
Stilson. The community of Stilson traces its origins to the arrival in the 1890s of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Out-of-state developers O. H. Stilson and Rodney Hill bought land in 1896 and immediately began planning a town. They advertised the new community to farmers in Iowa, and a number of families came here to begin new lives. Among those who came to build homes and establish farms were many Swedish immigrants, including C. F. Seaberg and C. D. Nelson. By the late 1890s the town boasted a fourteen-room hotel, a general store, a gin, a blacksmith shop, a rice mill, a warehouse, a barber shop, a post office, a railroad depot, and a school. The one-room Stilson school served students in all grades, taught by one teacher. the school was closed in 1918 when area children began attending classes in Dayton. The Stilson Post Office was established in 1898 and was located in the general store operated by C. S. Brown. The post office was discontinued in 1925, and rural mail delivery from Dayton began in 1926. Stilson began to decline when the population gradually shifted to nearby Dayton. Descendants of many early settlers still reside in the area. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986 #9688
?, Dayton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09674
Linney Cemetery. Founded in the 1850s, this graveyard was established to serve the citizens of West Liberty (now Dayton). Although there was no early organization of the cemetery, sections of the burial ground were known by the names of families interred there, such as Smith and Alford. A section reserved for blacks in the early years is now known as Acie Cemetery. Several land acquisitions and donations over the years have combined to bring the cemetery's total size to thirteen acres. There are many unmarked burials in this cemetery. The earliest documented interment is that of Joseph Monroe Linney, who died at the age of six days in 1880. Other early burials include those of Jane Francis Hunt, who died in 1881, and Marie Louise Schneider Gossie, who died in 1885. Those buried in the Linney Cemetery include pioneer settlers, city and county elected officials, community leaders, members of fraternal organizations, and veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The Linney Cemetery Association, established in 1903, still cares for the historic graveyard. It serves as a reflection of the area's early heritage, and as a reminder of pioneer life in Liberty County. #9674
?, Dayton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09653
French Cemetery. According to local tradition, this cemetery derives its name from a group of French settlers who were killed and buried near the site sometime during the 18th century. Although no physical evidence of the French burials has been found, the name has been in common use for more than 100 years. Referred to in the mid-1800s as the Pruett Family Cemetery, the graveyard is located on land acquired by Beasley Pruett from the Mexican government in 1824. Upon his death in 1835, Pruett was buried on his land grant in a now-unmarked grave. The earliest marked grave here, dated 1860, is that of Martha Day, a daughter-in-law of Beasley Pruett. Other early Liberty County settlers and Pruett family descendants buried here include Reason Green (1800-1868), who held several 19th-century public offices; surnames of other prominent citizens buried here include Brashear and Linney. Veterans of four wars and the Korean Conflict are interred here. In 1946, landowners W. T. Jamison, Sr. (1878-1962) and J. N. Coleman (1882-1948) formally set aside these two acres of the French Cemetery as part of the sale of the surrounding land. The graveyard remains an important reflection of Liberty County history. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986 #9653
?, Dayton, TX, United States