Dayton is a York County town, settled in 1753 and incorporated on April 7, 1854 from a part of Hollis.
As with many early communities, the availability of water power was a major attraction to power grist mills, saw mills and other activities. One dam has been preserved at the end of Waterhouse Road near the town line with Lyman.
Dayton, with a population increase of over 50 percent in the 1990-2000 decade, is a rapidly growing residential community adjacent to the Biddeford-Saco area. One of the visible changes in southern Maine is the growing popularity of recreational horse ownership where once work horses reigned supreme.
