Rhea County Courthouse - View this location on map From July 10-21, 1925, this was the scene of the controversial and widely-publicized trial of John Thomas Scopes (1901-1970) for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in a Dayton public school. A battle of wits between two great lawyers--William Jennings Bryan, for the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow, for the defense--the trial symbolized the clash between fundamentalist and modernist thought in science, theology, philosophy, and politics. 225 S. 8th Street, Dayton, Tennessee Historical

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