Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1986 on, and the census since 1870.
The Clayville post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Clayville.
Clayville was incorporated in 1887 and was named in honor of Henry Clay. Iron foundries and machine shops were an important activity here by the 1850s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Clayville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
B. Wicks, from early in 1868 until November of the same year, was lay -reader, and at the latter date was ordained, and has since been the rector of the parish. He officiates also at Clayville and Bridgewater. The number of communicants by the report for 1877 was 67. The Sunday-school has a membership of about 30, and is superintended by John Osborn. A day-school has been conducted by the parish in 1877-78, in charge of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
with an attendance of about 75, superintended by Michael Dempsey, and another in the school-house at Chadwick's Mills, in the town of New Hartford. The society has a fine cemetery on the road north of Clayville, near the one belonging to the village. PARIS HILL.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
with an attendance of about 75, superintended by Michael I Dempsey, and another in the school-house at Chadwick’s Mills, in the town of New Hartford. The society has a fine cemetery on the road north of Clayville, near the one belonging to the village. PARIS HILL.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clayville.
1986Norwich sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clayville.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clayville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 339 and 990 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clayville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Clayville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Clayville post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1919
1919
1919
1919
1919