Clayton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Panola County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had an estimated population of 79 in 2000.

History

The area was first settled around 1845 by

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

native Jacob Cariker. He constructed a house southwest of Reed's Settlement, one of the earliest communities in Panola County. During the 1870s, most residents from Reed's Settlement had relocated to the Cariker site. A post office was established in 1874 under the name Clayton, after

Clayton, Alabama Clayton is a town in and the county seat of Barbour County, Alabama, United States. The population was 3,008 at the 2010 census, up from 1,475 in 2000. History Clayton has been the county seat since 1834, two years after the creation of Barbo ...

, said to have been the origin of several early settlers. Clayton had a population of 130 in 1885. That number had risen to 200 by 1914. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the population declined to 175 and steadily decreased thereafter. By the late 1960s, the number of inhabitants stood at 125. By 2000, Clayton had 79 residents and two businesses. Clayton has a post office with the ZIP code 75637.

Geography

Clayton is located at (32.0982190, −94.4749246). It is situated at the junction of State Highway 315 and FM 1970 in southwestern Panola County, approximately southwest of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

Education

Public education in the community of Clayton is provided by the

Carthage Independent School District Carthage Independent School District (Carthage ISD or CISD) is a school district based in Carthage, Texas (USA). In 2009, the school district was rated " academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TE ...

. Clayton once operated its own public school district. In May 1905, Clayton School District #11 was created. It was defined and organized in February 1907. The district consolidated with Carthage in 1965.

Notable person

* Margie Neal, first woman elected to the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate is made up of 31 members, where eac ...

, was born near Clayton in 1875.

References

External links