The railroad erected a depot, section house, water tank, and stock pens. The original depot burned and was rebuilt on the east side of the track. In 1961 after service was discontinued, the buildings were sold and made into a home and specialty shop. The depot grounds are now a nice little park. Two elevators, hotels, livery barns, churches, and several stores were started in sixteen months.
Land is level, having a rich black soil five feet deep with a clay subsoil underneath.
School was first held in a sod house, a room in another residence, then a small stone building near town. The first school in Dalton was built in the middle of the street, just south of the present school site. New buildings have been added over the years. In 1978 a merger with the town just south was initiated, so K-8 is at Gurley and high school in Dalton Dalton's longest resident doctor, Dr. Pankau, practiced medicine for 40 years until his death in December 1969.