Clay County, Illinois

Clay County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Louisville
Year Organized: 1824
Square Miles: 469

Court House:

P.O. Box 160
County Courthouse
Louisville, IL 62858-0160

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Henry Clay, US Representative and Senator, author of the "Missouri Compromise" and three-time presidential candidate.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Clay County was created on December 23, 1824 (Laws, 1825, p. 19) and was formed from Crawford, Fayette and Wayne Counties. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Wayne County (1819–1824), Fayette County (1821–1824), Crawford County (1816–1824), Edwards County (1815–1819), Gallatin County (1812–1815), Madison County (1812–1815), Randolph County (1803–1812), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801). The County was named for Henry Clay, a statesman and political orator, Representative in Congress and United States Senator from Kentucky, three times Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, famous as the author of the political measures know as the "Missouri Compromise," and a prominent candidate for the Presidency.

The County Seat is Louisville . Prior County Seats was Maysville (1825–1841) and Louisville (1841–Present).

Records show as early as 1818 that a Mr. Elliot laid claim to land in the southeastern part of Illinois now known as Clay County. In 1842, Clay County, named for Mr. Henry Clay, was created from areas of Lawrence, Fayette and Wayne counties with Maysville as the first seat of government. This was most likely due to Maysville’s location on the national road between St. Louis and Cincinnati.

Even though Clay had some early settlers, it wasn’t until the late 1830’s that signs of real growth started showing with the arrival of Judge Apperson, Judge S. Hopkins, Mr. Stanford and Mr. Lee followed by the Tender, McCollum and Cochran families. New development meant changes and amongst them came the relocation of the county seat to Louisville in 1842.

Penetrated diagonally by the Little Wabash River, Clay County is known for its fine Oak & Ash lumber. With over one-half of the county under cultivation, everywhere you look there are fields of Indian corn, flax, tobacco, oats and hay.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 470 square miles (1,217 km²), of which 469 square miles (1,215 km²) is land and 1 square mile (2 km²) (0.13%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Jasper County
East: Richland County
South: Wayne County
Southwest: Marion County
Northwest: Fayette County; Effingham County

Cities and Towns:

- Bible Grove	township
- Blair	township
- Clay City	village	Incorporated Area
- Flora	city	Incorporated Area
- Garden Hill	township
- Harter	township
- Hoosier	township
- Iola	village	Incorporated Area
- Louisville (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- Oskaloosa	township
- Pixley	township
- Sailor Springs	village	Incorporated Area
- Songer	township
- Xenia	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."