Clayton NC is an old town as far as United States towns go. From being a small cotton town with hardworking residents building it from the ground up , to becoming an up and coming “bedroom” town of Raleigh as more professionals move to the area, Clayton has a long a distinguished history. Learn more about Clayton history in the History Room!

A Timeline of Events in Clayton Area History

1700’s

1701
English surveyor John Lawson came down Neuse River on his journey from Charleston, S.C., to piedmont and eastern N.C.

1705
Craven County created, encompassing territory west of New Bern (all the way to the Pacific Ocean!).

1711
The Tuscaroras, an Iroquoian-speaking people who inhabited eastern North Carolina for hundreds of years, were defeated by European settlers and their Native American allies. Except for a remnant along the Roanoke River, the Tuscaroras were forced to leave the colony, eventually settling near Buffalo, New York.

1746
Johnston County created from Craven, with courthouse located near present Goldsboro.

1800s

1809
Gregory’s Ordinary (Tavern) burned; courthouse property sold to Louis Wilburn.

1811
Local Baptists organized at Liberty Meeting House on John McCullers plantation.

1845
Post office established at Gulley’s Store, with Needham G. Gulley first postmaster.

1848
North Carolina Railroad chartered to construct rail line between Goldsboro and Charlotte.

Pre-1855
Area in southeast Clayton became known as the village of Roxboro. A private school was established there by H. L. Winton of New Jersey.

1855
First stretch of N.C. Railroad opened from Goldsboro to Durham.

1856
NC Railroad completed to Charlotte, soon to be recognized as North Carolina’s “fertile crescent.”
Post office name changed to Clayton, possibly in honor of U.S. Senator John M. Clayton.
William B. Jones of Tennessee established Clayton Academy.
Granite Lodge #191, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, organized in Clayton.
Sarah Stallings divided her property, known as Stallings Station, into lots along railroad. First lot purchasers were merchants Sanders P. Cox, son Wiley Wooten Cox, and James A. Smith.

1900 thru 1929

1900
Population 754.
Clayton Cotton Mills opened, with Ashley Horne as president.

1901
Clayton School Company chartered to oversee construction of a new high school and dormitory for boarding students at Second and Fayetteville Streets.

1903
First sewage system installed.
Knights of Pythias organized a lodge in Clayton.
Everett’s Chapel Free Will Baptist Church organized.

A. J. Barbour built Clayton Cotton Oil Mill.

1905
Clayton Dispensary closed following a special town election.

1907
Liberty Cotton Mill established, opening the following year with A. J. Barbour as president.
Clayton Telephone Co. chartered, with young boys running the switchboard in the Horne store.
Ashley Horne announced his candidacy for Governor of North Carolina.

1908
Clayton Building and Loan Association organized, with Charles W. Horne as president.
Ashley Horne defeated in gubernatorial primary election.
Rom H. Gower began developing West Clayton as a “suburb” of Clayton.

1909
E. R. MacBryde began publishing a short-lived newspaper, The Clayton Enterprise.
A short-lived tobacco market opened with two warehouses, the Star and the Liberty.

John T. Talton published his first of three issues of the Illustrated Handbook of Clayton.

Laura Elizabeth “Bettie” Lee (Mrs. Jesse M.) Battle published Forget-Me-Nots of the Civil War, an account of her childhood in Clayton during the Civil War and Reconstruction.