DAYTON - The upstairs gallery of the Dayton Historic Depot is lined with quilts. There's no heating problem. The quilts are part of a special display called Our Old Quilts: Patterns of Love and Memory.

The display opened in February, and will run through September. It consists of 20 quilts from the permanent collections of the Dayton Depot and the Boldman House Museum.

An evening reception to introduce the quilt exhibit will be held Wednesday, May 7 at the Depot from 6 to 8 p.m.

Included are 17 complete quilts, one matching bolster and three unfinished tops. The quilts are all believed to have been made in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

Some of the quilts were made by Dayton residents and others were brought here by new residents. All were donated to the collection.

"Quilts have served as significant artistic and creative outlets in their design and production, especially for women," says the information sheet accompanying the display. "Quilts often were the central reason for a group of women to get together, to make something for their community, to create a raffle item, to give to people in need."

One quilt, donated by Barbara Fullerton of Dayton, has plate patterns on a white background. Each of the 20 plates has one or two names.

"Many of the names were women of the local Congregational Church," the information sheet says.

Another, called "Feathered Star Quilt," was donated by Darlene Broughton. It was made around 1900, and is included in a book called "Women and their quilts - A Washington Centennial Tribute," which was published in 1989.

"This quilt was sewn with 17 stitches per inch," said Depot Manager Mary Byrd. "Most quilts have about ten per inch."

A quilt donated by Gayle Berg of Walla Walla, is a top only, which was purchased in a Walla Walla Antique Store. It includes a ribbon sewn into it with the words "McKinley Club, Dayton." The local McKinley Club was formed for the presidential campaign of William McKinley in 1896. McKinley, a Republican, was elected that year and served until his assassination in 1901. But the quilt lives on.