Daykin is located in the northwest corner of Jefferson County, two miles south of the Saline
County border and four miles east of the Thayer County line.

State Highway 4 runs east and west through the community. 

The windmill played an important role in the founding of Daykin.  When the Kansas City
and Omaha Railroad decided to make Daykin a stop along its line, it constructed a large
windmill near the tracks. Shortly thereafter, the community was mainly settled by people
of German and Czech ancestry. Since these newcomers followed the lead example set by
the railroad and used windmills to secure their water supply, the community was referred to
as the "Town of  windmills".  Although it is unclear as to the exact date that tracks from
the Omaha and Kansas City Railroad entered the community, by the late summer of 1887
a railroad section house operated in Daykin.
The land encompassed by present- day Daykin passed through several owners before it was platted.

John N.  Daykin, a railroad employee, purchased land for the community in the  northwest portion of  the
county  from  William E. Ide  in 1869.  In August of  1877, a post office began operating in Daykin. 

A decade later, the Daykin Family sold  the  property to John  C. Kesterson and George Cross.

On 8 June 1887, John Ragan platted approximately sixty-one acres to form Daykin, with nearly nine acres designated for railroad use.

In 1900, Daykin's first census reported a population of 189. Ten years later, the village's peak population was
reported at 220.65 

Following the platting of the Original Town of Daykin, M.J. Carpenter, John C. Kesterson,
and  George Cross donated land for Carpenter's Addition on 25 April 1888. Two later
additions were developed in Daykin after World War  11.  In 1949, William  and Anna
Niederklein and Minnie Kleine donated land for Kleine Addition. Two years later, Lena
Struckrnan gave land for another addition to reflect her surname.

The layout of Daykin on an 1984 plat map consists of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad tracks, which were historically owned by the Kansas City and Omaha, running
through the community in a northwest-southeast direction. Original Town and Carpenter's,
Kleine, and Struckman's additions are the subdivisions in this approximately sixteen-block
community. Whitehead, Eureka, Tullis, Purdy, Nichol, Mary, Marie, Carpenter, Francis, and
efferson are the names used to identifl the streets. In 1990, the population was reported at
188. This figure was only one person less than the first population taken in Daykin.

Source: NebraskaHistory.org                  Additional Resources: UNL Education