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Clayton, Alabama

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Clayton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36016. The Survey maps it on the Clayton North quadrangle. 2,265 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 591 feet above sea level.

Clayton within Barbour County

On record in Clayton

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

3 figures

Clayton grew from 400 to 2,265 between 1850 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
1850400
20103,008
20202,265-743 (-25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

81 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Clayton between 1994 and 2018, burning about 529 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined18
Arson/incendiarism9
Equipment and vehicle use8
Recreation and ceremony5
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Natural1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 September 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 1995Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
20 September 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
18 September 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
11 September 2014Equipment and vehicle use34 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionSER-20140911-001
9 August 2017Debris and open burning3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20170809-1
9 August 2008Equipment and vehicle use7.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
5 August 1998Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Barbour County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 20 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Clayton: 16 unknowns, 3 occurrences, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bar 1 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Bowden DepositsClayOccurrence
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown

Every working recorded in Barbour County

Storms near this place

22 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clayton in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 11 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2006Tornado (F0)Clayton1 hurt, $250,000The tornado touched down at 12:20 PM CST in the Barbour County Wildlife Management Area, near the intersection of Charles Drive and County Road 49. It then moved northeastward and skirted County Road 49, then moved across a large wooded area and open pasture area. Several hundred trees were snapped off and uprooted near the beginning of the tornado damage path. As the tornado traveled northeast, a large warehouse at a family owned sod farm was completely destroyed. An office used by the sod farm was heavily damaged due to a large tree falling on it. The tornado crossed US 82 between the Comer community and the Batesville community. As the tornado crossed US 82, an automobile was tossed some 80 feet off the roadway. One male occupant of the car was injured and transported to the hospital. The tornado traveled just over a mile past US 82 and snapped off several hundred more trees before lifting north of US 82 near Bear Creek at approximately 1233 PM CST. The tornado snapped off many hundreds of trees along its path. One warehouse was destroyed, one office was heavily damaged, and one home sustained roof damage. Metal tin from the roof of a shed was thrown at least a half mile down the tornado path. At least one automobile was damaged and one man was injured. The tornado path length was 8.5 miles long and was 100 yards wide at its widest point.Begin: 31.9875/85.4472 End: 32.0328/85.3122
April 2002HailClayton$15,000A supercell thunderstorm moved across Barbour County producing very large hail and some tree damage. Dime to baseball size hail fell along the path of the storm. Many locations reported accumulations of hail on the ground. Several trees were also blown down and many trees received damage from the large hail. This was the same storm that produced the F0 tornado south of Clayton.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindClayton$12,000Trees were blown down. Tin roof of three trailers at Ventress Correctional Facility were peeled off.
March 1996HailClayton$10,000no account filed
June 2002Thunderstorm WindClayton$8,000Trees were knocked down along SR 51 around mile marker 58. Some of the fallen trees landed on automobiles. No injuries were reported.
December 2005HailClayton$6,000Golf ball size hail fell in and around Clayton and covered the ground in several locations.
March 2002Thunderstorm WindClayton$6,000A large tree was blown down and landed on an automobile. The vehicle suffered moderate damage.
March 2005HailClayton$5,000Golf ball size hail was reported near the White Oak community by the Fire Department.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindClayton$5,000Numerous power outages were reported in Clayton due to downed trees.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindClayton$3,000A couple of trees were blown down on SR 51 near Clayton.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindClayton$3,000Several trees were blown down and a few large limbs were snapped off near Clayton.
August 1995Thunderstorm WindClayton$3,000Trees were reported down in the Clayton area.
March 1997HailClayton$3,000no account filed
September 2004Tornado (F0)Clayton$2,000A brief weak tornado was reported east of Clayton. Several trees were knocked down. This weak tornado was associated with an outer rain band of the tropical system Ivan. Approximate location 31.91N/85.30W.
May 2001HailClayton$2,000Quarter size hail fell between Clayton and Eufaula.
June 2023HailClayton-Nickel size hail reported in Clayton.
March 2007Funnel CloudClayton-A funnel cloud moved just north of the city of Clayton, but no damage was observed.
March 2005HailClayton-Nickel size hail was reported just west of the city of Clayton. The hail may have been larger but fellacross rural locations.
April 2004HailClayton-State Troopers reported quarter size hail along the storms path across southern Barbour County.
May 2003HailClayton-Nickel size hail was reported in Clayton.
September 1998Funnel CloudClayton-A funnel cloud was reported in western Barbour County west of Clayton.
April 2006HailClayton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Barbour County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Mount Olive (historical)4.0 miles8
Bells Crossroads4.1 miles7
Pratts4.6 miles7
White Oak6.1 miles7
Hobdy6.1 miles7
Gaino6.1 miles7
Garmon Crossroads6.9 miles7
Lime Sink7.1 miles7

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on ClaytonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q66815The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 116206. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.