Dayton, Tennessee

Coming up in Dayton

• Thu Oct 29 — Last day of early votingEarly voting for the Nov. 3 state and federal election ends today, 8:30 AM–6 PM ET, at the Rhea County Election Commission office on the first floor of the courthouse. On Election Day, Tue Nov 3, vote at your own precinct — details at rheavote.com. ⓘ source
• Fri Oct 30–Sat Oct 31 — 20th annual PumpkinFest — downtown DaytonMainStreet Dayton’s two-day fall festival around the courthouse, 10 AM–9 PM ET both days — costume contest, pumpkin decorating, pie-eating contest, petting zoo, food and craft vendors and open downtown stores. ⓘ source
• Sat Oct 31 — The Time Machine radio theater · Courthouse Farmers MarketThe Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation’s radio-drama staging of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine in the second-floor courtroom, 2 PM ET, $5. Earlier, the Rhea County Courthouse Farmers Market sets up on Court Street behind the courthouse, 8 AM–2 PM ET. ⓘ source
• Mon Nov 2 — Dayton City CouncilFirst Monday of the month, right after the 5:45 PM ET school board meeting, at the Municipal Building, 399 1st Ave. ⓘ source
• Thu Nov 12 — Holiday Stroll — downtown Dayton5–8 PM ET · MainStreet Dayton’s holiday shopping night — visit the stores on the Stroll card to be entered for prizes; the Clyde W. Roddy Library and the city add activities. ⓘ source
• Sat Nov 28 — Fly-In, Drive-In Breakfast · Mark Anton Airport7:30–11 AM ET · all-you-can-eat breakfast hosted by the Civil Air Patrol, rain or shine, every fourth Saturday. ⓘ source
• Sat Dec 5 — Christmas at the Courthouse & parade12–4 PM ET downtown — parade, Christmas Critters pageant and selfies with Santa. The courtroom radio-theater production of It’s a Wonderful Life is listed for 2 PM ET by MainStreet Dayton and 5 PM ET by the county tourism calendar — confirm with the Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation. ⓘ source
• Mon Dec 7 — Dayton City CouncilFirst Monday, after the 5:45 PM ET school board meeting · Municipal Building, 399 1st Ave. ⓘ source

Every July: the Scopes Trial play Destiny in Dayton and festival around the courthouse — Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation ↗.

Checked Oct 29, 2026 · times Eastern (ET) · dates from MainStreet Dayton, the City of Dayton and UT MTAS, the Rhea County tourism calendar and the Herald-News. More Rhea County events on the county guide.

A short history

Dayton began as Smith’s Cross Roads, a crossroads settlement in the valley between the Tennessee River and Walden Ridge; it took the name Dayton in 1877–78. When the Cincinnati Southern Railway came through on the west side of the river in the mid-1880s, it bypassed the old county seat of Washington — and in 1883–84 English investors organized the Dayton Iron and Coal Company to work the area’s coal, iron and limestone. Residents voted 120 to 13 on March 14, 1885, to incorporate, and by 1887 two furnaces were each turning out about 100 tons of pig iron a day (Tennessee Encyclopedia). The city’s present charter dates from a 1903 act of the General Assembly (UT MTAS).

In 1889 Rhea Countians voted to move the county seat from Washington to Dayton. A new jail followed in 1890 and the brick courthouse, designed by W. Chamberlin & Co. of Knoxville, in 1892.

In March 1925 the General Assembly passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal in Tennessee’s public schools to teach that humans descended “from a lower order of animals.” The ACLU offered to back a test case, and Dayton civic leaders, hoping for publicity, approached John T. Scopes, the high school’s football coach and science teacher, who said the state-approved biology text could not be taught without evolution. The trial opened on July 10, 1925, with William Jennings Bryan helping the prosecution and Clarence Darrow among the defense lawyers; Dayton’s population of about 1,800 swelled to about 5,000 at its height. On July 20 Darrow called Bryan to the stand as an expert on the Bible, and on July 21 the jury returned a guilty verdict in less than ten minutes; Scopes was fined $100.

In January 1927 the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the Butler Act but reversed the conviction, because the judge rather than the jury had set a fine above $50; the law stayed on the books until 1967. Bryan died in Dayton on July 26, 1925, five days after the trial, and the college founded in his memory opened as William Jennings Bryan University on Sept. 30, 1930, holding its first classes in Dayton’s high school building (Tennessee Encyclopedia; Bryan College). The courthouse — still in use — was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and each July the Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation stages the play Destiny in Dayton and a Scopes Trial festival on the courthouse lawn.

Visit: Rhea Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum ↗ · Scopes Trial walking tour ↗

Rhea County’s history → · East Tennessee history hub →

Around Rhea County

← Rhea County guide — the county directory, Laurel-Snow, Piney Falls and Stinging Fork Falls on Walden Ridge, Yuchi Refuge, and Watts Bar and Chickamauga lakes.

Other Rhea County towns: Spring City · Graysville. Communities: Evensville · Frazier · Grandview · Old Washington · Morgan Springs · Roddy. Next door: Bledsoe · Cumberland · Hamilton · Meigs · Roane county guides.

Other county-seat guides: Wartburg (Morgan County) · Kingston (Roane County) · Huntsville (Scott County) · Jamestown (Fentress County) · Crossville (Cumberland County).