The Clay City post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Maysville (1825), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 594 in 18702020 census: 847168 years
Founding year: the first Clay City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Clay City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In the early 1800s, Solomon Harter Mueller (later Miller) came to Clay City with his Cherokee wife (later Ida) and 6 children from West Virginia to establish a farm and grinding mill. He later built a smokehouse, general store, and milinary shop. Solomon also brought his brother George C. with his wife Caroline and 5 children. Solomon and Ida had children: Isom, Mary, Otto, Roy, Louise, and Zella, all born in Clay City. Louise's great-grandchildren, Wallace and Caroline, left Clay City for St. Louis. Paul George left for Ohio and ultimately lost oil and mineral rights in Clay City.
Passages that mention Clay City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pictures and biographical sketches of the business men of Clay City, Illinois 1930, obituaries1930Read the page →
Read the text
A year or so before moving to Clay City he entered into the flour and feed business, as a side line, at Sr.ilor Springs. Desiring to enter the business more extensively he moved his business to Clay City and retired from the far.n.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pictures and biographical sketches of the business men of Clay City, Illinois 1930, obituaries1930Read the page →
Read the text
age of 73 years, 5 months and 27 days. When but a girl of twelve years of age, she emigrated with her parents to Clay City, 111., and settled on a farm south east of Clay City and for 61 years she has not lived very far away from Clay City. The last 32 years of her lief was spent at the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Clay City, 1825 to 1960
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clay City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1948Flora sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clay City.
Every building
Clay City, building by building, 1907–1913
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
