Bio of DAYTON, George Draper (b.1857), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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GEORGE DRAPER DAYTON - Vol III, pg 38-41
Among the many worthy native sons whom the Empire state has contributed to the
citizenship of Minneapolis none occupies a more distinguished position in
com­mercial circles of the city than George Draper Dayton, president of The
Dayton Company, which conducts one of the finest and largest department stores
in the Northwest. His birth occurred at Clifton Springs, near Geneva, New York,
on the 6th of March, 1857, his parents being Dr. D. D. and Caroline (Wesley)
Dayton. The father devoted his attention to the practice of medicine and surgery
with excellent success and left an honored name that has remained unsullied and
without stain.
George D. Dayton was educated in the public schools of his native community and
at the early age of sixteen left the parental roof to make his own way in the
world. He determined to accumulate five thousand dollars by the time he reached
majority, so that he would then be able to marry and suitably provide for his
wife. For a period of ten years he worked at various pursuits in and about
Geneva, making many friends by his clean, straightforward methods. Realizing the
great opportunities in the fast growing western country, he determined to locate
here and in the summer of 1883 settled at Worthington, Nobles county, Minnesota,
where he organized the State Bank of Worthington. Up to that time he had never
seen the inside of a bank ledger, but applying the strictest business
principles, he quickly demonstrated his fitness and ability to conduct such an
enterprise. The friends he had left in the east sent him funds to invest and
also recommended him to others, so that within a short time Mr. Dayton had
established a reputation for honesty and fair dealing that has constituted the
foundation of his success. At the start he firmly resolved that interest on
moneys placed in his care would always be paid when due and the principal be so
safeguarded that no one should ever lose through any investment made by him.
Through the four decades of his career he has never deviated from this course
and he has received money for invest­ment purposes from people all over the
world. In 1884 he organized the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company at
Worthington and became its president. This com­pany, successful from its
inception, dealt widely in land and real estate in many of the northwestern
states. In the early '90s the officials realized that the time had come when it
was wise to begin operations in the larger cities instead of con­fining the
business to the country and to Mr. Dayton was assigned the task of investigating
the more important cities of the west in order to determine which, in his
judgment, was most desirable for a location. Accordingly he studied various
points, including Omaha, St. Louis, Kansas City, Salt Lake, St. Paul and
Minne-apolis, and after carefully considering conditions in each city he
reported that Minneapolis was his choice. From that time his faith in this city
and its future has never wavered for a moment. The Minnesota Loan & Investment
Company began operations in Minneapolis in 1892 by purchasing the unimproved
property at the corner of Nicollet avenue and Sixth street, fifty-five by
ninety-eight feet deep, for twenty-two hundred dollars per front foot, and also
acquired the property at No. 524 Nicollet avenue. Today a most conservative
valuation on the first named property would be six thousand dollars per front
foot. Larger deals followed quickly and Mr. Dayton soon became recognized as one
of the most substantial operators in and improvers of business properties in the
city. The Minnesota Loan & Investment Company also developed several large
additions to the residential sections of Minneapolis and its suburbs.
In 1902, having completed a six-story building at the corner of Nicollet avenue
and Seventh street, the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company leased the same to
The Goodfellow Dry Goods Company, an old established Minneapolis concern. Soon
thereafter Mr. Dayton and his sons took over the management of the store, the
name of which was changed to The Dayton Company. This was their initial step
into the field of merchandising, but applying the same honorable principles
which had governed him in the banking and investment business, he, with his
sons, has developed what is readily conceded to be one of the finest and largest
department stores in the Northwest. In 1903, when he took charge, there were
about two hundred and forty employes, which number has been increased to an
average of eighteen hundred, while in the busy season employment is furnished to
over twenty-five hundred people. The store now occupies the entire front on
Nicollet avenue, between Seventh and Eighth streets, one hundred and fifty feet
on Seventh street and- three hundred and eighty feet on Eighth street. The eight
stories comprise more than ten acres of floor space, while seventeen elevators
serve the patrons. Into this great organization Mr. Dayton has injected his
indomitable spirit and his high principles. Always gentle and considerate, he
has ever been among the first to inaugurate better working conditions and hours
for his employes, whose goodwill, respect and esteem he enjoys in unqualified
degree. No movement or measure instituted to promote the general welfare or
further the progress of city, state and nation seeks his aid in vain. His
cooperation and counsel have been sought in the conduct of various corporate
interests, for he is not only an executive officer of The Dayton Company but the
president of the Dayton Investment Company, which absorbed the Minnesota Loan &
Investment Company, the president of the Dayton Foundation and a director of the
Northwestern National Bank, the Minne­sota Loan & Trust Company and the
Northwestern Terminal Company.
On the 17th of December, 1878, at Lakemont, Yates county, New York, Mr. Dayton
was united in marriage to Emma Willard Chadwick, daughter of Professor Edmund
Chadwick, a noted educator of that community. Her great-grandfather served as a
surgeon in the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Dayton are the parents of two
sons and two daughters, as follows: D. Draper, who wedded Louise Winchell and is
treasurer of The Dayton Company; G. Nelson, who married Miss Grace Bliss and
occupies the vice presidency of The Dayton Company; Mrs. Caroline (Dayton)
Hayden of Minneapolis; and Josephine, who is the wife of Rev. F. H. Blair of
Pasadena, California.
Mr. Dayton is a stanch republican in politics but has never sought nor desired
office as a reward for party fealty. He is a director of the Civic & Commerce
Association and an active factor in the educational and moral progress of his
adopted state, being president of the board of trustees of Macalester College
and a trustee of the Union City Mission, trustee of the Board of National
Missions of the Presbyterian church in the United States, trustee of the local
board of Church Extension and trustee of the Young Women's Christian
Association. He is also a trustee of Biddle University and of the Dalton
Agricultural School. In early man­hood he was elected an elder of the
Presbyterian church, the teachings of which have guided him in every relation of
life. During the period of the World war he acted as a member of the Minneapolis
district committee of the Capital Issues Commission, receiving a letter of
thanks from Charles S. Hamlin, chairman of the board, for his splendid services
in this connection. Walking and motoring afford him recreation and he holds
membership in the Minneapolis and Minikahda Clubs. A man of remarkable
personality who is accorded place among the most prominent Citizens of the
Northwest, he is nevertheless modest, quiet and retiring in demeanor, not
seeking the spotlight of publicity. His accomplishments have focused attention
upon him, however, and his upright and honorable life has added new lustre to an
untarnished family name.