September 17, 2009

Note: This story originally appeared in the February 2005 Clay News. 

One day, you could just find yourself cheering for the Clay Panthers rather than the Cougars or perusing Clay Today rather than the Clay News. No bizarre trip to a parallel universe or to the Twilight Zone is required. One can simply gas up the car and drive to places with zip codes such as 13041 and 77839. Many Americans, over 50,000 in New York alone, also claim places called Clay as their hometowns.

The name of our formerly agricultural community was suggested by circuit preacher, William Clark McCoy, during a visit with Reverend Elijah Self of Shiloh Methodist Church, now Clay United Methodist. According to "An Early History of Clay" by Earl Massey, Self was completing an application to the U.S. Postal Service for a local post office while socializing with McCoy. The record says, “The application provided a space for the name of the post office. As [Self and McCoy] sat on the front porch of the Self house pondering the name, McCoy [looked] out across the freshly plowed fields with their red tint and suggested ‘Clay.''”  Prior to the new designation in the late 1870s, the area had been referred to as “Self’s Beat.”

While early settlers named the area for the soil under their feet, most other U.S. places with identical designations were named for Senator Henry Clay, a 19th century abolitionist and political giant. Clay, nominated three times as a presidential candidate, is best known as “The Great Compromiser” for the Compromise of 1850 which delayed the Civil War.  While this statesman has absolutely nothing to do with our city, an interesting serendipity is found in the surname of his wife, Lucretia Hart.  It seems a Clay-Hart connection, of sorts, predates our original mayor’s birth by many generations.

Another western Alabama locale has a more straightforward connection to the Senator.  Not only was Clay County so named to honor Henry Clay, but the county seat, Ashland, was named for the Clay family estate in Kentucky. Likewise, counties in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia were also named for Henry Clay.

In total, all but two of the eighteen U.S. counties dubbed “Clay,” have matching origins.  Formed in 1807, the first U.S. county to be called “Clay” is in Kentucky. According to county historical records, the land was named for General Green Clay, a cousin of Henry Clay.    

Clay County, Iowa, is named for Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay, Jr. of Kentucky, who died at the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War. Thomas J. Scharf’s "History of Delaware" confirms that the soldier was Senator Clay’s son. Therefore, every Clay County in America draws its name from a member of the Henry Clay family.

Is the same true for the smaller cities and towns named Clay?  Or is deriving its title from the good earth a unique hometown distinction? Clay News uncovered several unincorporated communities, such as Clay Center, Ohio, a small village in Ottowa County, that are not on official state listings as a city, town or village. Another example is an obscure Baldwin County Cemetery record which also refers to a “Clay City” in their part of Alabama. In most cases like these, sources regarding the origin of the Clay name in these places could not be found. 

Clay, Texas, with a population of 61 at last count, was named for A.M. Clay, a local landowner who donated a tract for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in the early 1880s, according to the Burleson County Historical Society. Eighty-one-year-old resident, Mary Bryan, tells Clay News that the “predominantly African-American community” is known as a “very hilly” place with a Methodist and a Baptist church. She said, “There used to be a store here, but there’s not one now.” 

A Kentucky reporter tells Clay News that the "Clay" in his state is “not known for anything” except that the sheriff and deputy there got shot once with an AK-47. Clay, Ky., incorporated in 1860, is fighting its waning reputation, though. Leading a population of 1,106, Mayor Rick Householder organized “Rebuild Downtown Clay, Inc.” in 1999 to revitalize the city.

Clay, W.Va., is the Clay County seat. Karen Nicholas, a secretary with the County Extension Office, says, “Clay is a little one-horse town. If you blink, you’ll miss it.” She said there is not a stop light in the whole county. “Once upon a time, somebody got drunk and shot it out. I’m 49 years old, and that was before my time.” Nicholas said a local farm was the birthplace of Golden Delicious apples. Clay, W.Va, is also named for Henry Clay.

Two places named Clay Center, both Clay County seats, have residents that praise their respective cities. Linda Stratton, who works at City Hall in Clay Center, Kan., said her community is known as “The City Beautiful,” a farming community with parks and a zoo as its main attractions.

Chris Eads of Clay Center, Neb., tells Clay News that her city was once known throughout the Midwest as the home of “Old Trusty” incubators and brooders, and that her town of 867 people attracts 12,000 to 14,000 visitors each September by celebrating “Old Trusty” days.  The local high school – CCHS - that’s Clay County High School – has “an exceptional academic reputation.” Both county seats, whose Christmas decorations got mixed up one year, derived their name from Henry Clay, according to county historical records. Although Eads said, “The older ones have always told [that we were] named for the soil.”

Clay City, Ind., calls itself “The Mayberry of the Midwest.” According to its current city website, it is a 129-year-old town with a population of 1,025. The site also says, “Visitors' letters have described Clay City as ‘a town in a time capsule’ and ‘a throwback to the days when people waved to friends, knew neighbors on a first name basis and took time to enjoy visitors.’”  

By far, the largest town named “Clay” is Clay, New York, with a population of 58,805, and “a very stable government run by a supervisor and six board members,” according to town clerk, Vivian Mason. Mason said the suburban town in which the Seneca, Oneida and Oswego Rivers come together is the 17th largest town in the state. Once distinguished for cigars and sauerkraut, this suburb of Syracuse is now known for shopping malls. The Town of Clay, established in 1827, is also named for Henry Clay.  

At the conclusion of this inquisitively indulgent excursion through Clays of America, it appears reasonable to conclude that Clay, Alabama, just may be the only viable city that can trace an earthen epithet. Ancient peoples, like the Hebrews, believed strongly that names were providential. Two leading authors of name origin and meaning books offer insight on this city’s designation. Sue Browder writes that “Clay” is an Old English word meaning “of the earth, mortal.”