County Past
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Clay County, Arkansas

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
16historic places
—earliest paper
1873formed
14,552pop. 2020
42cemeteries
1CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 16 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1974. Most listings are in or near Piggott, Corning, Rector.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Arkansas is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Clay titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

8 of 16 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

16 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Chalk BluffSt. FrancisSite1974
Clay County Courthouse, Eastern DistrictPiggottBuilding2018
Clay County Courthouse, Western DistrictCorningBuilding2018
County Home CemeteryPiggottSite2005
Eastern Star Lodge 207 F&AMSt. FrancisBuilding2002
Knob School-Masonic LodgeKnobBuilding1991
Oliver HouseCorningBuilding1978
Pfeiffer House and Carriage HousePiggottBuilding1982
Piggott Commercial Historic DistrictPiggottDistrict2009
Piggott National Guard ArmoryPiggottBuilding2006
Piggott Post OfficePiggottBuilding1998
Rector Commercial Historic DistrictRectorDistrict2009
Rector Waterworks BuildingRectorBuilding2009
Scatterville CemeteryRectorSite1995
Sheeks HouseCorningBuilding1975
Sink-Crumb Post No. 72 American Legion HutKnobelBuilding2008

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Clay was formed in 1873 (1873-03-24) from Greene, Randolph.

CLAYTON (now CLAY) created from GREENE and RANDOLPH.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Clay County population from 1880 to 2020 (Census historical series).

28k18k7,213188019201950196020002020
188019001920194019501960198020002020
7,21315,88627,27628,38626,67421,25820,61617,60914,552

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

42 cemeteries and 5 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 42 of 42 listed
NameLatLon
Allen Cemetery36.312-90.65066
Allmandinger Cemetery36.45261-90.60384
Bethlehem Cemetery36.28698-90.43956
Black Cemetery36.48311-90.65289
Blooming Grove Cemetery36.31478-90.29148
Bond Cemetery36.32989-90.58635
Brown Cemetery36.47058-90.66934
Cantwell Cemetery36.40811-90.50149
Corning Cemetery36.41339-90.5776
Crockett Cemetery36.41866-90.33843
Cummings Cemetery36.40206-90.29331
Gilchrist Cemetery36.32216-90.58935
Gravel Hill Cemetery36.46581-90.18878
Green Cemetery36.46441-90.63325
Hardin Cemetery36.37553-90.34059
Hill Cemetery36.45203-90.17495
Hitt Cemetery36.46422-90.71289
Hosea Cemetery36.32256-90.63289
Johnson Cemetery36.33848-90.35732
Leonard Cemetery36.21602-90.24945
Liberty Hill Cemetery36.32811-90.31843
Little Flock Cemetery36.39505-90.24537
Marys Cemetery36.29228-90.28315
Masterson Cemetery36.47339-90.65483
Moark Cemetery36.47394-90.52455
Myer Hill Cemetery36.36339-90.32815
Nelson Cemetery36.35771-90.74038
Nimmons Cemetery36.29545-90.1081
Piggott Cemetery36.37482-90.2003
Purcel Cemetery36.26033-90.39121
Redenbo Cemetery36.40775-90.51502
Richwoods Cemetery36.4044-90.66303
Rock Springs Cemetery36.2788-90.44393
Rogers Cemetery36.39568-90.31703
Saint Bernard Cemetery36.32357-90.62362
Salem Cemetery36.32089-90.38204
Trovillon Cemetery36.337-90.28392
Underwood Cemetery36.36534-90.26357
Williams Cemetery36.37438-90.26885
Williams Cemetery36.46793-90.5623
Winston Cemetery36.34663-90.23956
Woodland Cemetery36.27256-90.30398
Historical populated places — 5 of 5
NameLatLon
Hammett36.31423-90.24177
Luehrmann36.36256-90.589
Pittman36.49173-90.71123
Sellmeyer36.29034-90.58705
Styra36.45839-90.30538

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Civil War battlefields nearby

ABPP

American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) Civil War study areas near this county.

BattlefieldStudy acresDist.Site ID
Chalk Bluff3,70627.2 kmAR007

Source: NPS American Battlefield Protection Program Civil War Study Areas (public ArcGIS feature service).

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Clay County, Arkansas

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.