Dayton is aneighborhood within the city ofNewark inEssex County, in theU.S. state ofNew Jersey. It is part of the city's south ward.[1]
The neighborhood is named afterJonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760 – October 9, 1824), anAmerican politician from theU.S. state ofNew Jersey andfounding father of the United States He was the youngest person to sign theUnited States Constitution and a member of theU.S. House of Representatives, serving as the fourthSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later theU.S. Senate.
Dayton was also known for Twin City, a skating rink located on the Newark-Elizabeth border in the area of Virginia Street. St. Thomas Aquinas RC Church is located on Ludlow Street.
The area is bounded on the north by Peddie Street (forThomas Baldwin Peddie), on the east byNewark Liberty International Airport, on the south byElizabeth, and on the west by Elizabeth Avenue.[2] The main road through the neighborhood isFrelinghuysen Avenue, but it is surrounded byU.S. Route 1/9,Interstate 78 andU.S. Route 22.Newark City Cemetery andMount Olivet Cemetery lie at its eastern edge.
Weequahic Park, at the neighborhood's western side, is the second largest park in Newark. It includes an 80-acre (320,000 m2) lake,Weequahic Golf Course and an old racetrack now used for jogging. It is bisected by US 22 and the larger, southern section of the park (including Weequahic Lake) is easily accessible to Dayton.[3]
There is one train station in Dayton,Newark Liberty International Airport, served byNew Jersey Transit'sNortheast Corridor Line andNorth Jersey Coast Line, andAmtrak'sNortheast Regional andKeystone Service. The station was built in 2001 to connect NJT's commuter lines andAmtrak'sNortheast Corridor services with the airport'sAirTrain system. It opened four years after service was run between terminals on the AirTrain. The station is only a transfer station and not publicly accessible by any roads.[4] In 2024 thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates the station, announced that the station would be expanded to include street access viaNew Jersey Route 27 (Frelinghuysen Avenue) as well as other facilities for bus service, parking, and drop-off area.[5][6]
A proposal to extendPATH service to the airport may include a station at Dayton.[7][8][9]
In 2022, the city announced that a major new film and television production studio overlookingWeequahic Park andWeequahic Golf Course, to be calledLionsgate Newark Studios would open in 2024 on the 15-acre formerSeth Boyden housing projects site at 101 Center Terrace in the Dayton section nearEvergreen Cemetery. Lionsgate Newark will partner on public relations and community affairs with theNew Jersey Performing Arts Center.[10][11][12]
40°42′18″N74°12′27″W / 40.70500°N 74.20750°W /40.70500; -74.20750