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Clay County was organized on May 12, 1871 during Mississippi's Reconstruction Period from parts of Chickasaw, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Monroe counties. The new county was originally named Colfax, in honor of Schuyler Colfax, Ulysses S. Grant's vice president. After reconstruction rule ended in Mississippi the county was renamed Clay during 1876, in honor of Henry Clay, American statesman, who was secretary of state under John Quincy Adams. Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the State and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy and Illustrious Families and Individuals. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891. Vol. 1, pp. 269-270. Clay county
was established May 12, 1871, from Lowndes, Monroe, Chickasaw
and Oktibbeha counties. The name of the county was Colfax
until April 10, 1876, when it was changed to Clay, a name more
pleasing to the majority of the people. West Point, the
county seat, has twenty-two hundred inhabitants, and is situated
on the Mobile & Ohio railroad. The other towns are
Tibbee, Palo Alto and Siloam. Other towns and postoffices
are Abbott, Barrs, Beasley, Belle, Big Springs, Cairo, Cedar
Bluff, Griffith, Henryville, Mhoon Valley, Montpelier, Parker,
Pheba, Pine Bluff, Robertson, Vinton and Waverly. The county
is bounded north by Chickasaw and Monroe, east by Lowndes, south
by Oktibbeha and west by Webster. The water courses are
the Tombigbee, which runs along the eastern border, and in the
county are the Tibbee, Line creek, Houlka, Chickatouchy and other
streams which flow in a southeasterly direction. |
The National Register of Historic Places Clay County Inventory page contains interesting information about historic sites in Clay County. Also see: Lowry & McCardle's 1891 history of Clay County. Source: Rowland, Dunbar, ed. Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing, 1907.Abbott, a post-village of Clay county, on the Chuquatonchee Creek, about ten miles northwest of Westpoint, the nearest railroad, express and banking point. It has a money order post office and is a prosperous little place, having a grist-mill and a cotton ginnery. Beasley is a post-hamlet in Clay county, 19 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat. It has a store, a grist mill, a saw mill and a cotton gin. Bigsprings, a hamlet in the central part of Clay county, about 15 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat. Population in 1900, 68. Cairo, a post-hamlet in Clay county, 16 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat. It has two stores, a sawmill, grist mill, a cotton gin and a church. Montpelier, a post-village of Clay county, located on Sand creek about 16 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat and the nearest banking town. Mantee, on the M.J. & K.C.R.R., 6 miles west is the nearest railroad town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 121. Palo Alto. An extinct village in Chickasaw, now Clay county, which flourished before the War between the States. After the organization of Clay county in 1871, it was absorbed by the new town of Abbott. Pinebluff, a postoffice in the western part of Clay county, on Chewah creek, about 24 miles from Westpoint, the county seat. It has two stores. Una, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Clay county, about 22 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat, and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 35. Waverly, a hamlet in the southeastern part of Clay county, on the Tombigbee river, and a station on the Southern Railway, about 6 miles northwest of Columbus, and 10 miles east of Westpoint, the county seat. It has a church, a saw mill and a girst mill. Population in 1900, 82. It has rural free delivery service from Westpoint. West
Point,
the county seat of Clay county, is situated in a fertile and
healthful region, at the crossing of the Illinois Central, Mobile
& Ohio, and the Southern railways, 16 miles northwest of
Columbus. The original town was a little hamlet, about one half
a mile west of the present town. When the Mobile & Ohio railroad
was completed through this section a few years before the War,
1861-1865, the business of the town moved to the railroad. It
was incorporated November 20, 1858. When Colfax county was formed
in 1871, it became the county seat, and when the name of the
county was changed to Clay it was continued as the county seat,
and is now one of the most flourishing towns in northeastern
Mississippi. It has about 125 business houses, two good hotels,
fitted with all the modern conveniences, and is located within
40 miles of the rich coal fields of Alabama and only 100 miles
from where iron is mined. Among its prominent manufacturing enterprises
may be mentioned a cotton mill, furniture factory, electric lighting
plant, a $75,000 system of water works owned by the city, with
fine artesian water, a brick and tile works, an ice factory and
soda bottling works, two oil mills, a cotton compress, machine
shops, two planning mills, a stove factory, a steam laundry,
an artifical stone factory, handle factory, heading factory,
and wagon and carriage shops. A street car system is contemplated
in the near future. There are four banking institutions, the
First National Bank, established in 1883, capital $100,000; the
Bank of West Point, established in 1896, capital $50,000; the
First Savings Bank established in 1902, capital $25,000, and
The Citizens Bank, established in 1905, capital $50,000. There
are eight churches, all the principal denominations being represented.
It is the seat of the Southern Female College and has two graded
schools; also the Mary Holmes school (Presbyterian) for colored
girls. The first newspaper was published in West Point was the
Broad Ax, published by W. Ivie Westbrook, from about 1858 to
1860. The following newspapers are now published here: The Leader,
a Democratic weekly established in 1881, LT. Carlisle, editor
and publisher; the Dixie Press, established in 1892 as a Democratic
weekly; the Times, established in1899, a Democratic weekly; The
West Point Advertiser, a Democratic weekly established in 1906;
the Conservative (colored) established in 1902 as a weekly. The
country within a radius of ten miles is filled with a thriving
population, engaged in growing cotton and grain, and in stock
raising. The citys debt in 1906 amounted to $78,000 in 30 and
40 year bonds; its assessed valuation is $1,250,000; taxe rate
is 15 mills. The population in 1900 was 3,193, which has materially
increased since that date, and in 1906 was estimated at 5,000.
The contract for the erection of a fine high school building
was let in 1906. |
 Source: Rowland, Dunbar, ed. Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing, 1907.Clay County
is a very irregularly shaped district in the northeastern part
of the State, and was erected May 12, 1871, during the administration
of Governor Alcorn. It marks the southern boundary line of the
old Chickasaw Indian territory; and was formed from the counties
of Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Chickasaw. The county has a land surface
of 399 square miles. Its boundaries were defined by the original
act as follows: -- Beginning at a point where the section line
running east from the northeast corner of Section 24, T.
16, R. 7 east intersects the Tombigbee; thence running due west
to the northwest corner of Sec. 19, T. 16, R. 6 east; thence
due north to the northeast corner of Sec. 1, T. 15, R. 5 east;
thence west to the northwest corner of Sec. 6, T. 15, R. 4 east;
thence south to the southwest corner of Sec. 19 in same Twp.
And Range; thence west to the northwest corner of Sec. 30, T.
15, R. 3 east; thence south to the southwest corner of Sec. 26,
T. 20, R. 14 east; thence to the point on Tibbee creek nearest
said southeast corner of Sec. 25; thence down the meanderings
of said Tibbee creek making said creek the county line, to the
county line between Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties; thence south
along said line to the southwest corner of Sec. 18, T. 19, R.
16 east; thence east to the southeast corner of Sec. 14, T. 19,
R. 16 east, to Catalapa creek; thence down the meanderings of
said creek to its junction with the Tombigbee river; thence north,
following the meanderings of said river to the point of beginning.
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The Clay County, Mississippi
USGenWeb Site
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