Battle over indoor bathrooms polarized old Dayton elementary school

By Ruby McFarland

Our little Dayton museum was not without its problems when it was housing children in Nevada's second-oldest school house. One problem I reported on before was when a neighbor's fire spread to a shed containing dynamite, the shed blew, and all the windows in both the elementary school and high school bit the dust.

But for the most part, the school didn't have too many problems until modern plumbing and sanitation came into play. Before then, the kids used outhouses, causing problems for teacher and student alike. Bert Perondi told me about such an incident when a future sheriff locked the teacher in the outhouse. And Victoria Pradere said she didn't want to go to school because they locked her inside the outhouse, too.

Well, along about the early 1950s, parents began to expect more for their children. They wanted them to have a sanitary place in which to learn, rather than one where germs were easily spread. They were upset because the students still didn't have indoor plumbing, nor even a place to wash their hands.

Dayton diarist Emma Nevada Loftus kept a running commentary in her diaries about the problems and bad feelings it created in the community. There were two factions, including those said they had done without all these new-fangled ideas for nearly 100 years, but the more progressive parents got their way.

In 1959, the little stone schoolhouse closed its doors. The grammar school students were moved to the former high school, which was also forced to close to provide room for the elementary school students. (Dayton High School was at the site of the first Lyon County Courthouse which burned, now used daily as the Dayton Valley Community Center). DHS students were bused to Carson High School.

At the old stone schoolhouse, deserted it seemed, Sunday school was held for a short while. It later became the Dayton Senior Center. The Dayton Museum Historical Society was lucky to get the building for the museum in 1991, and has been improving it ever since.