Around the same time the club found its first permanent home ground, Summers Meadow in Lowfield Street, obtained on a long lease.

In addition Dartford gained a reputation nationally by becoming the first club outside the Football League to reach the FA Cup Third Round Proper in successive seasons.

Towards the end of the decade Mr Collier, who had brought a distinctive Scottish flavour to Dartford, resigned to take over a business in Scotland and the period was seen out in a comparatively quiet vein.

For a decade and a half following the 1939–1945 war, Dartford had little to show for its efforts except for a sparkling win over Bromley in Kent Senior Cup in 1947.

At the time, Bromley vied with Bishop Auckland as the premier amateur club in the land and the Lillywhites look a 2–0 lead in the final before Dartford struck back with three goals to lift the trophy.

Soon after this win Dartford transferred Riley Cullum and Fred Alexander to Charlton Athletic for £6,000, which wiped out the club's debts entirely.

Dartford's first post-war manager had been Warney Cresswell (ex-Everton and England) but poor results led to him being rapidly replaced by Bill Moss who gradually put some stability into the club's playing performances.

The key managers of the era were George Green, Alf Ackerman and Ernie Morgan, each of whom bring extensive Football League experience to the club resulting in a reasonable level of respectability to the playing side affairs.

For the next few seasons Dartford drifted along and just failed to clinch a spot in the newly formed Alliance Premier League (now the Football Conference).

In the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire and the Hillsborough disaster, Dartford, like so many clubs, needed to either relocate or upgrade their current facilities with the Board going for the latter option.

Large sums of money were spent on planning and design fees, which burdened a manageable financial deficit with crippling interest charges.

Ground improvements, which Maidstone United had paid for, were sold to Dartford at a cost (around £500,000), which pushed Darts' debts beyond manageable proportions.

A private limited liability company was incorporated in November 1992 to manage affairs which meant, primarily, keeping the Youth team operating, an action which was rewarded when the Youth team beat Maidstone Invicta (the club rising out of the ashes of the old United Club) in the final of the John Ullman cup by 2–0 at Gravesend & Northfleet before a gate of 562.

The contributing existence of the Youth team enabled Dartford to maintain both its Senior status and Full Membership of the Football Association.

In February 1993 former player Tony Burman was appointed Manager and with the club being offered a ground-share arrangement by Cray Wanderers Dartford were able to make a successful application for membership of the Kent League.

Dartford were winners of the Kent Senior Trophy, having beaten Chatham Town 3–0 at Welling United's ground, whilst the newly formed reserves team carried off a (South London Federation) League and Cup 'double' under the guidance of former Dart Gary Julians.

In September 1997 a disastrous fire at Erith & Belvedere's Park View ground put the club's future and standing with the Southern League into serious doubt.

The club moved closer to the borough with a new arrangement to play home matches at Gravesend & Northfleet's (now Ebbsfleet United) Stonebridge Road ground from the 2000–2001 season.

In early 2002 long time Dartford favourite Steve Robinson returned to the club as reserve team player manager.

Many changes were to follow on the playing front and by the end of the season Dartford had finished in a very creditable eighth position and in doing so were the highest-placed Kent club in the Dr Martens Eastern Division.

The ground-sharing agreement at Gravesend & Northfleet, coupled with an upturn in performances on the field, saw a significant increase in attendances to help the financial position of the club.

On 20 July 2007 Dartford hosted Crystal Palace in a friendly match at Princes Park as part of Dave Martin's transfer to the Eagles.

After a strong season, including an undefeated run of 21 matches, they finished as champions, securing automatic promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.

They won the Kent Senior Cup for the tenth time against Bromley at Princes Park after a coin-toss decided the venue of the final.

In the 2022–23 season, Dartford finished as runners-up in the National League South but lost on penalties in the play-off semi-finals against St Albans City.

Chairman: Steve Irving President: Bill Archer Directors: Bob Blair; Mark Brenlund; Tony Burman; Harry Extance; Norman Grimes; Jeremy Kite; Company Secretary: David Boswell Football Secretary: Peter Martin Operations Manager: Jack Smedley Front of House: Hayley Thomas Associate Director of PR and Communications: Gareth Morgan Programme Editor: David Shafford

Chairman: Michael How Vice-chairman: Scott McKinnon Treasurer: Geoff Ashburn Secretary: Gary Clark Manager: Adrian Pennock Assistant manager: Roland Edge Kit Man: Terry Groom Statistics from the last decade[3] Dartford, historically, are the most successful club that currently play in the National League South followed by rivals Bath City.