Painted ladies of Columbia County

The Seattle Times – August 11, 2005
(By Lynda V. Mapes)

DAYTON, Columbia County — Between rounded hills seeded with wheat, down a sweet two-lane that proves driving can still be fun, Dayton is a surprise of a town that shatters the mold of rural Eastern Washington.

Fine dining, elegant lodging, and a walking tour with 117 buildings on the National Register. House-made microbrews, and a family farm making goat cheese that’s turning chefs’ heads. A trove of history, lovingly presented in a museum of Indian culture, and an outdoor sculpture of a Lewis and Clark encampment, just outside town. Who knew?

Dayton is a town where the residents decided more than 20 years ago their city would not lie down and die like so many other rural villages across Eastern Washington.

“Dayton has just picked itself up by its bootstraps; it was one of those rural towns that was just going to fade into obscurity,” said Muff Donohue, a resident since 1952. “We had vacant buildings, unkempt areas; those things are the death of a small town.”

In 1983, more than 300 people turned out for a town meeting to figure out how to keep their town alive. Decisions that day sparked a revival that continues today.

“We were just lucky enough to have people who saw the potential. It was no one person; each one inspired another somehow,”

Donohue said.