Manuscripts Collection
George Draper Dayton was born in Clifton Springs, New York, on March 6, 1857. He was the son of Dr. David Day and Caroline (Draper) Dayton, a physician and surgeon. George married Emma Willard Chadwick (1856-1931) at Lakemont, New York, on December 17, 1878. Their children included David Draper, Caroline, George Nelson, and Josephine.
George and his wife came to Minnesota in 1883 and settled at Worthington. George was involved in real estate investments there, and served as president of a bank. In 1884 he formed the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company, Worthington, and became its president. This company bought, sold, and lent money on farm lands and other real estate.
In 1902 the Daytons moved to Minneapolis, where George and two associates bought the R. S. Goodfellow Company, changing the name to the Goodfellow Dry Goods Company. In 1903 the name was changed to Dayton Dry Goods Company, and in 1911 to the Dayton Company. The firm became Dayton Corporation [ca.1967], and in 1969 was part of a merger that created The Dayton Hudson Corporation.
He was also president of the Dayton Investment Company, successor to the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company; the Dayton Foundation; and J. B. Hudson, Inc. He was a trustee of Macalester College (St. Paul), the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, the Minneapolis Board of Church Extension, Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Chicago), Union City Mission, Goodwill Industries, the Minneapolis Y.W.C.A., and other organizations.
Dayton, a lifelong Presbyterian, was an active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Worthington; First Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis; and Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis.
Emma Dayton died January 19, 1931. George Dayton died at his home in Minneapolis on February 18, 1938, and was interred at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
The collection was accumulated by Bruce B. Dayton and Ellen B. Green
between 1992 and 1997 in the course of researching and writing
The collection consists of research notes and photocopied materials referred to and used in the preparation of the biography. It includes information about George D. Dayton�s boyhood and ancestors in New York state; his career as a banker in Worthington, Minnesota; real estate investments and partnerships in the Twin Cities; the development of his retail dry goods business in Minneapolis; and his involvement in Presbyterian churches in Worthington and in Minneapolis. There are some photocopies of minutes of the Dayton Foundation, and there is a typescript copy of Dayton�s funeral service and eulogy (1938).
The span dates given for the collection (1992-1997) are the years during which the research was undertaken and the material generated. The collection consists almost entirely of photocopies of older news stories, documents, and photographs, some of which date back to 1854.
The published biography of George Draper Dayton is in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.
Accession number: 15,533
Processed by: David B. Peterson, February 2000
Catalog ID number: 09-00321563
LocationBox
Includes biographical newspaper articles (obituaries, 1938).
Primarily photocopies of newspaper clippings, pages from books, photographs, legal documents, and maps. There is also some correspondence and memoranda, a few photographs, and some miscellaneous printed items.
Includes
Includes pictorial membership directories (1979, 1994) of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Worthington, Minnesota.
8 x 10 black-and-white prints, color slides, and 4 x 5 color
transparencies. Includes photographs of a city directory advertisement for
"Dayton & Smith, Druggists & Grocers," Geneva, New York (undated);
Dayton's marriage certificate (1878); a Bliss family genealogy (1937); photos
of greeting cards given to Emma Chadwick by John Dayton (undated); a photo of a
photograph of Emma Chadwick (undated); and photographs of the pages of the
Includes photographs of the schoool, the Dayton home, and downtown scenes at Worthington; a portrait of George D. Dayton; interior and exterior photographs of Dayton's stores on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis; a horsedrawn wagon with "Dayton's" painted on its side; and a street scene at Lima, New York (1854).
Includes a letter written to Dayton by Erle D. Luce while visiting Berlin, Germany, in 1921, describing difficult conditions Luce found there.
Newspaper articles, letters, Minnesota Land and Investment Company articles of incorporation and financial statements, and other material relating to Dayton's life and business ventures, including his boyhood in New York State and later years spent in Worthington and Minneapolis. Much of the material concerns the growth and expansion of Dayton's department store in Minneapolis, and his interest in and financial gifts to Presbyterian churches. Correspondents include business contemporaries, family members, and various church officials and ministers.
Copy of Bank of Worthington capital stock certificate No. 2 (250 shares owned by George D. Dayton) (1893) and a color reproduction of a newspaper advertisement or handbill issued on the occasion of the changing of the name of Goodfellow Dry Goods Company to Dayton Dry Goods Company (1903).