The first school in Layton wasn't built in the old south Main Street area or in the center of the city as might be expected. It was constructed in Dawson Hollow - about 2.5 miles northeast of South Main - in the Kays Creek area.

According to research done by Doneta M. Gatherum, Layton historian, the one-room log cabin school was opened in about 1860 (or as early as 1870 in another report) on a little knoll north of the Elias Adams Jr. home.It was 12 feet wide and 16 feet long with a thatched roof, dirt floor and fireplace. Prior to that time, school had been held in the home of George W. Adams.

The first teachers at the Dawson School were paid with in bacon, flour and produce.

Soon after the first school, a second log school was built less than a mile away. Its exact location is unclear. A third school was eventually constructed in Dawson Hollow of brick, near today's 1650 E. Kays Creek Drive. It was 30 feet long and 20 feet wide and was also the site of the first LDS Church Sunday school in the city.

This brick school was used until 1916, and its ruins are still visible. It was held together by a buttress in its later years. In 1902, 18 students attended the school from as far away as Hill Field Road.

The hill leading to the school was steep. In spring and summer, the hills were covered with blooming wildflowers. In winter, kids used the hill for sledding. There was an outhouse behind the school and partially up the hill.

The middle fork of Kays Creek was near the school and provided a steady water source. The "Pioneer Road" was also nearby, traversing the city from east to west.

One teacher at the school, Fanny Knowlton of Farmington, taught at the Dawson School for one year. She rode the Bamberger train to the Layton station and then walked several miles to the school, climbing fences and crossing fields.

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The Dawson School also served as a community hall and had an organ. It probably hosted some area dances in the early 1900s.

Layton also had many other schools and likely had eight one-room schools operating in 1900. Some of these other schools included: the Five Points School, the Nalder School and the West Gentile School in its early days.

- Today, 78 years after it closed, the ruins of the third Dawson School are still visible behind the north side of Kays Creek Drive at 1650 East. To find the historic remains, follow a rough path at the end of 1650 East leading behind the home on the northwest corner. The ruins are roughly 50 feet behind the house and below the west end of Beechwood Drive.

All that remain are four concrete steps and two sections of the reinforcing buttress that helped hold the school together in its final years.

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