Here is a bit of local history. How many can picture the location of Dayton, Washington? It is about 150 miles southwest from Post Falls and 41 miles north of Walla Walla on highway 12, resting under the shadow of the Blue Mountains. Today it has a population of just over 500, and when the Baptist church in that community was established, it was certainly no larger.
The first church in our region was the Friendship Baptist Church in Walla Walla. It was founded in the winter of 1867-1868. Within a few years other churches were started, but because the population was small they all eventually died away. Then in 1873, William Pruett moved from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, to Dayton. On the fourth Sunday of July, he organized the first long-lived Baptist church in Eastern Washington. Sometime in the near future, I hope that Judy and I will be able to drive down to Dayton to see if that church still stands.
– Source: “This Day in Baptist History (III)” – Cummins