Robert Frank Dalton was born on March 7, 1858, in North Carolina. Dalton was a prominent businessman in Greensboro and surrounding communities, helping to establish or found the Porter-Dalton Drug Store, the Snow Lumber Company, and the Southern Webbing Mills. In 1917, he was appointed chairman of the State Building Commission by Gov. Thomas W. Bickett. He died in Greensboro on April 6, 1932.