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History · Clay City

Clay City’s post office opened in 1875, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Clay City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Clay City began

When was Clay City founded?

1875

The Clay City post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 419 in 18802020 census: 878151 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.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,503 in 1900; 878 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1910, drew every building in Clay City.On the map since 19104 editions of the USGS map, 1910 to 1986. Watch Clay City change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clay City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clay City’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFeederdam Bridge, State Route 59, spann…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Clay City, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,503

Peaked at 1,503 in 1900; 878 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clay City’s Wikipedia page.

Every building

Clay City, building by building, 1886–1910

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.

Clay City fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Clay City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clay City.

Read it all →

Clay City was originally called Markland, and under this latter name was platted in 1873 when the railroad was extended to that point.

However, there was another post office with that name in the state, so this name could not be used because there was already an extant "Markland, Indiana." The name Huntersville was then adopted in honor of Congressman Morton C. Hunter. The Congressman was not popular in the local area, however, so residents objected to the name, and the name "Clay City" was eventually chosen by a local committee. Clay City is named for Kentucky statesman Henry Clay.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Clay City in 1909

Passages that mention Clay City, cut from the printed page as they were published.

3i Hour mill, he moved his sawmill to Clay City. A year later, in 1892, Mr. Guirl sold his interest in this plant to his brother, organized the Clay City Manufacturing Company, put up a large mill, and for ten years was here engaged in the manufacture of staves. During this time Mr.
A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2)1909 · page 31Read the page →
Read the text

3i Hour mill, he moved his sawmill to Clay City. A year later, in 1892, Mr. Guirl sold his interest in this plant to his brother, organized the Clay City Manufacturing Company, put up a large mill, and for ten years was here engaged in the manufacture of staves. During this time Mr.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
son Francis learned to swim in the tail race. This was the last such mill in the county. He also had a set of burrs to grind corn, and one of the stone burrs is still lying on the bottom of the little creek (Lick Branch), one and one-quarter mile west of Clay City. He framed the first frame for the…
A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2)1909 · page 466Read the page →
Read the text

son Francis learned to swim in the tail race. This was the last such mill in the county. He also had a set of burrs to grind corn, and one of the stone burrs is still lying on the bottom of the little creek (Lick Branch), one and one-quarter mile west of Clay City. He framed the first frame for the first coal shaft on his brother Henry’s farm, near Clay City, that was in southern Clay county.

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, 1875 to 1910

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Clay City post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 1,503
  5. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Clay City, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Feederdam Bridge, State Route 59, spanning Eel RiverDate?Feederdam Bridge, State Route 59, spanning Eel River
Today3 recent
ClayCityJrSrhighSchool2022ClayCityJrSrhighSchoolClay City, Indiana2016Clay City, IndianaAqueduct Bridge2011Aqueduct Bridge
On the map

Clay City on the map, 1910 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clay City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Clay City on the 1910 USGS mapClay City on the 1957 USGS mapClay City on the 1972 USGS mapClay City on the 1986 USGS map1910Clay City 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.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Feederdam Bridge, State Route 59, spanning Eel River
Retake this viewFeederdam Bridge, State Route 59, spanning Eel River

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clay City’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Clay City’s history

What year was Clay City founded?

The Clay City post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.