Meet Dayton’s Most Remarkable Woman: Fanny G. Hazlett

Before the saloons quieted and the dust settled on Gold Cañon, one woman stood tall in a town of 20 men to every 1 woman, her name was Fanny G. Hazlett.

She arrived in Dayton in 1862, crossing the plains by wagon to what she called “a rough country, where shooting affrays are frequent and gambling at every other door.” Instead of turning back, Fanny rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

She ran a boarding house, became Dayton’s postmaster for 20 years, helped start the town’s first library, and even wrote under the pen name Frank Hazlett (because women authors weren’t taken seriously back then). Her words painted the early Nevada frontier as it really was, raw, wild, and alive with possibility.

By the time she passed away in 1933, Fanny had watched Dayton grow from a dusty mining camp to a proud Nevada community. She’s still buried in the Dayton Cemetery, resting among the stories she helped preserve.

Fun fact: In her 80s, she took one of the first commercial airplane flights, proving that even in old age, she was still ahead of her time.

Here’s to Fanny G. Hazlett, the woman who brought heart, history, and a library to Nevada’s oldest settlement.