HISTORY.

Clay County was formed in 1858 from parts of Braxton, Kanawha, and Nicholas Counties and was named in honor of Henry Clay, a Kentucky statesman. We declared our statehood in 1863.

The county area is 346.1 square miles. Approximately 10,200 lived in Clay County in 1910 while the 1990 census indicated a drop in population to 9,983. 

The mean annual temperature is 55 degrees and the mean annual snowfall ranges from 22 to 40 inches. The variation is due to mountain terrain. Two thirds of the county lies at elevations of 1000 feet above sea level.   The county seat and only municipality is in the Town of Clay, ( formerly known as Clay Courthouse).  It has a Mayor/Council form of government with the Mayor being the Chief Executive Officer. Town Council consists of 5 members, one recorder and the Mayor. It is located 42 miles from the State Capitol, Charleston.  

POPULATION
1960 - 11,942
1970 -   9,330
1980 - 11,265
1990 -   9,983
2000 - 10,700 (projected)

WORK
 There are 2,346 workers living in the county. Of that 1,241 work inside the county while 1,016 work in another county and 1.7% ( 40) have jobs in another state.

COUNTY GOVT.
A three member county commission governs the county.  The County Commission has the primary budgetary and administrative responsibility for the operation of county government.

COMMUNICATIONS
Clay County is served by two newspapers. The Clay County Freepress which is published weekly and The Communicator and is published bi weekly. There are no television stations in the county. The county is served by four cable TV companies. Telephone service is provided by Citizen's Telecom.

This information was copied with permission from ClayWestVirginia.com

Email  Brenda Vaughn