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History · Clay Township

37% of Clay Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1959 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nyttend · Public domain

What stands out about Clay Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Clay Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Clay Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clay Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Waw-Pe-Cong
1849–1870
Waupecong
1870–1875
Wawpecong
1875–1907
Loree
1888–1926
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
LoreeWawpecong
Gone or out of use
Miller Strip Airportairport
1cemetery inside Clay Township
Climer

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Clay Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clay Township.

Read it all →

Clay Township was organized in 1846. It is named for statesman Henry Clay of Kentucky.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Clay Township in 1887

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

Clay Township was organized March 3, 1846, as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of Section 4, Township 25, Range 4, it being the northeast corner of Deer Creek Township; thence east with the Congressional, to the northeast corner of Section i, Township 25, Range 4; thence south with the Ra…
History of Miami County, Indiana, from the earliest time to the present1887 · page 278Read the page →
Read the text

Clay Township was organized March 3, 1846, as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of Section 4, Township 25, Range 4, it being the northeast corner of Deer Creek Township; thence east with the Congressional, to the northeast corner of Section i, Township 25, Range 4; thence south with the Range line dividing Ranges 4 and 5 east to corner of said Congressional Township, on the south line of Miami County; thence west with the county line to the southeast corner of Deer Creek

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 Township, 1849 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Waw-Pe-Cong post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe Waw-Pe-Cong post office closes
  4. 1870Post officeThe Waupecong post office opens
  5. 1875Post officeThe Waupecong post office closes
  6. 1875Post officeThe Wawpecong post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1907Post officeThe Wawpecong post office closes
  9. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Clay Township on the map in 1959

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clay Township.

Clay Township on the 1959 USGS map1959Miami sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clay Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Clay Township

Nobody well known was born in Clay Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Cole PorterAmerican composer and songwriter · b. 1891
Ryan WhiteAmerican AIDS spokesperson and "poster boy" · b. 1971
Strother MartinAmerican actor · b. 1919
Bob GibbsAmerican politician · b. 1954
Miriam SeegarAmerican actress and interior decorator · b. 1907
Norman BridwellAmerican author · b. 1928
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Deer Creek TownshipIts storyC+Harrison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWashington TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Clay Township’s history

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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.