Page 155 - History of UB Church in Hburg Region
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History of U.B. Churches in Harrisonburg-Staunton Region December 26, 2024
major role in the school’s programs. An 1877 broadside advertised that “Music is a special and
prominent feature of the school” [S.C. Broadside, Undated34]. In the 1880s musical instruction included
choral singing, cornet, harmony, organ, piano, violin, and voice culture, with banjo, guitar, harp,
mandolin, and composition being added by the first decade of the 20th century. The school also
sponsored a brass band and orchestra. As early as 1892-93, 110 students were enrolled in the music
department. By 1902 the college had a new name—Shenandoah Collegiate Institute and School of
Music—which clearly reveals the importance assumed by the music programs. In 1937, the School of
Music was incorporated separately as Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. According to local historian
John Wayland, the “institute has really inherited the musical traditions and tendencies that so long
distinguished the school of Joseph Funk and sons at Singer’s Glen.” [Wayland 1972, p. 296]
Meanwhile, the state had accepted the college into the Junior College system in 1922. As the enrollment
in both institutions increased in the 20th century, the school outgrew its Dayton campus and moved to its
present site in Winchester in 1960.
With both the Shenandoah College and Ruebush-Kieffer Company, the town of Dayton
prospered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and attracted numerous other businesses and
commercial enterprises. Many stores sprang up along Main Street during these years. Keiter Brothers
Store and William H. Carpenter’s Cash and Trade Store both boasted businesses averaging $5,000
annually in the 1880s. C. J. L. Bryan had a successful confectionary, soda fountain, and general
merchandise store on College Street in the 1880s, serving the college community. Throughout the early
20th century, a variety of lunchrooms and restaurants were established to cater to the college trade.
G. W. Hedrick opened Hedrick’s Carriage Company, one of the town’s largest businesses in the early
1880s, and by 1888 he employed 10 men and grossed $7,000-8,000. Other local enterprises included
Dayton Creamery and Dayton Harness Factory along the railroad, Miller’s Furniture Factory at the
corner of Bowman and High streets, the Shrum Brothers’ brickyard on South Main Street, and several
livery stables. Aldine Kieffer established the Virginia Organ Company in 1882, but it burned in 1888
and was never rebuilt.
Dayton’s growth during this period was augmented by the construction of the Chesapeake and
Western (C&W;) Railroad, which skirted the town to the east. This branch of the railroad, running from
Elkton to Stokesville, was built primarily to exploit the lumber trade in Stokesville, a mountain
community southwest of Dayton. Along with transporting lumber products, the train provided
passenger and other freight services. With Dayton’s boom at the turn of the century, the town voted to
enlarge its boundaries twice, in 1892 and 1896. The new boundaries extended the town limits past the
railroad bed to the east and into the former Hiram Coffman farm to the west. Coffman’s farm had been
divided during a chancery suit to settle his estate in 1891, and two separate tracts were purchased,
subdivided, and included within the town. With his new wealth from the Carriage Company, George
Hedrick bought a tract at the top of Mill Street and sold off most of his lots in the 1890s. Hedrick also
presided over the Dayton Land and Improvement Company which purchased a second Coffman tract
south of Hedrick’s tract in 1905. Also included in this expansion was the South Side Addition, platted
by James H. Ruebush, on the east side of the south block of Main Street, ca. 1895-96.
Along with this expansion came several town improvements. An 1896 legislative act enabled
the town to borrow money to establish a fire department and waterworks. By 1904, Dayton began
pumping water for public and private use from nearby Silver Lake. In 1906, Dayton became the third
town in Rockingham County to have electricity, served by the North River Electric Company in
Bridgewater. This progressive spirit spread into the educational system as well. In 1886, the town built
34 Shenandoah College Broadside, J. K. Ruebush College, Special Collections, Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg,
Va., Undated.
II.B.14 Dayton U.B. Church and SCI 141
major role in the school’s programs. An 1877 broadside advertised that “Music is a special and
prominent feature of the school” [S.C. Broadside, Undated34]. In the 1880s musical instruction included
choral singing, cornet, harmony, organ, piano, violin, and voice culture, with banjo, guitar, harp,
mandolin, and composition being added by the first decade of the 20th century. The school also
sponsored a brass band and orchestra. As early as 1892-93, 110 students were enrolled in the music
department. By 1902 the college had a new name—Shenandoah Collegiate Institute and School of
Music—which clearly reveals the importance assumed by the music programs. In 1937, the School of
Music was incorporated separately as Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. According to local historian
John Wayland, the “institute has really inherited the musical traditions and tendencies that so long
distinguished the school of Joseph Funk and sons at Singer’s Glen.” [Wayland 1972, p. 296]
Meanwhile, the state had accepted the college into the Junior College system in 1922. As the enrollment
in both institutions increased in the 20th century, the school outgrew its Dayton campus and moved to its
present site in Winchester in 1960.
With both the Shenandoah College and Ruebush-Kieffer Company, the town of Dayton
prospered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and attracted numerous other businesses and
commercial enterprises. Many stores sprang up along Main Street during these years. Keiter Brothers
Store and William H. Carpenter’s Cash and Trade Store both boasted businesses averaging $5,000
annually in the 1880s. C. J. L. Bryan had a successful confectionary, soda fountain, and general
merchandise store on College Street in the 1880s, serving the college community. Throughout the early
20th century, a variety of lunchrooms and restaurants were established to cater to the college trade.
G. W. Hedrick opened Hedrick’s Carriage Company, one of the town’s largest businesses in the early
1880s, and by 1888 he employed 10 men and grossed $7,000-8,000. Other local enterprises included
Dayton Creamery and Dayton Harness Factory along the railroad, Miller’s Furniture Factory at the
corner of Bowman and High streets, the Shrum Brothers’ brickyard on South Main Street, and several
livery stables. Aldine Kieffer established the Virginia Organ Company in 1882, but it burned in 1888
and was never rebuilt.
Dayton’s growth during this period was augmented by the construction of the Chesapeake and
Western (C&W;) Railroad, which skirted the town to the east. This branch of the railroad, running from
Elkton to Stokesville, was built primarily to exploit the lumber trade in Stokesville, a mountain
community southwest of Dayton. Along with transporting lumber products, the train provided
passenger and other freight services. With Dayton’s boom at the turn of the century, the town voted to
enlarge its boundaries twice, in 1892 and 1896. The new boundaries extended the town limits past the
railroad bed to the east and into the former Hiram Coffman farm to the west. Coffman’s farm had been
divided during a chancery suit to settle his estate in 1891, and two separate tracts were purchased,
subdivided, and included within the town. With his new wealth from the Carriage Company, George
Hedrick bought a tract at the top of Mill Street and sold off most of his lots in the 1890s. Hedrick also
presided over the Dayton Land and Improvement Company which purchased a second Coffman tract
south of Hedrick’s tract in 1905. Also included in this expansion was the South Side Addition, platted
by James H. Ruebush, on the east side of the south block of Main Street, ca. 1895-96.
Along with this expansion came several town improvements. An 1896 legislative act enabled
the town to borrow money to establish a fire department and waterworks. By 1904, Dayton began
pumping water for public and private use from nearby Silver Lake. In 1906, Dayton became the third
town in Rockingham County to have electricity, served by the North River Electric Company in
Bridgewater. This progressive spirit spread into the educational system as well. In 1886, the town built
34 Shenandoah College Broadside, J. K. Ruebush College, Special Collections, Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg,
Va., Undated.
II.B.14 Dayton U.B. Church and SCI 141
