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.
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
Henry D. Clayton HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1976
Grace Episcopal Churchlisted 1995
Miller-Martin Town Houselisted 1974
Petty-Roberts-Beatty Houselisted 1974
Population over time
3 figuresClayton 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 400 | |
| 2010 | 3,008 | |
| 2020 | 2,265 | -743 (-25%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1953 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Dothan quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Clayton North quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Troy quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
81 since 1994Regional 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 burning | 35 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 20 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 18 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 11 September 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 34 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | SER-20140911-001 |
| 9 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20170809-1 |
| 9 August 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 August 1998 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 20 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bar 1 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Bowden Deposits | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown |
Storms near this place
22 since 1995Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Clayton | 1 hurt, $250,000 | The 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 2002 | Hail | Clayton | $15,000 | A 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 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $12,000 | Trees were blown down. Tin roof of three trailers at Ventress Correctional Facility were peeled off. |
| March 1996 | Hail | Clayton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $8,000 | Trees were knocked down along SR 51 around mile marker 58. Some of the fallen trees landed on automobiles. No injuries were reported. |
| December 2005 | Hail | Clayton | $6,000 | Golf ball size hail fell in and around Clayton and covered the ground in several locations. |
| March 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $6,000 | A large tree was blown down and landed on an automobile. The vehicle suffered moderate damage. |
| March 2005 | Hail | Clayton | $5,000 | Golf ball size hail was reported near the White Oak community by the Fire Department. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $5,000 | Numerous power outages were reported in Clayton due to downed trees. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $3,000 | A couple of trees were blown down on SR 51 near Clayton. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $3,000 | Several trees were blown down and a few large limbs were snapped off near Clayton. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clayton | $3,000 | Trees were reported down in the Clayton area. |
| March 1997 | Hail | Clayton | $3,000 | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Clayton | $2,000 | A 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 2001 | Hail | Clayton | $2,000 | Quarter size hail fell between Clayton and Eufaula. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Clayton | - | Nickel size hail reported in Clayton. |
| March 2007 | Funnel Cloud | Clayton | - | A funnel cloud moved just north of the city of Clayton, but no damage was observed. |
| March 2005 | Hail | Clayton | - | Nickel size hail was reported just west of the city of Clayton. The hail may have been larger but fellacross rural locations. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Clayton | - | State Troopers reported quarter size hail along the storms path across southern Barbour County. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Clayton | - | Nickel size hail was reported in Clayton. |
| September 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Clayton | - | A funnel cloud was reported in western Barbour County west of Clayton. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Clayton | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Olive (historical) | 4.0 miles | 8 | |
| Bells Crossroads | 4.1 miles | 7 | |
| Pratts | 4.6 miles | 7 | |
| White Oak | 6.1 miles | 7 | |
| Hobdy | 6.1 miles | 7 | |
| Gaino | 6.1 miles | 7 | |
| Garmon Crossroads | 6.9 miles | 7 | |
| Lime Sink | 7.1 miles | 7 |
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 Clayton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q66815 | The 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.




