Dayton, Maryland


Dayton is an unincorporated community located in Howard County, Maryland, United States.
Dayton is located southwest of Baltimore and north of Washington, D.C., 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. 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 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 famed for their Maryland blue crabs and once owned by the Harp family, who also owned Harp's grocery store, the Post Office, Hobbs Service Station, and a large wooden rabbit, 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 Store was prominent in the cross-roads 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 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.