Clay

Formed January 1, 1824 (31^st county)

Clay County (13,290), Louisville (1,145), Flora (4,796)

The masonry Neo-Classical style building was built on a hill in 1912 to replace an earlier 1843 courthouse in Louisville.  It is on a square at Chestnut, Main, Broadway, and Church streets.  United States Highway 45 is five blocks west of the site.  Joseph W. Royer is the building architect.  The grounds have veteran memorials and the inside feature marble walls.  The county was founded on January 1, 1824 from parts of Wayne, Crawford, and Fayette counties as the 31^st county.  Hubbardsville was the county seat until 1841 when Louisville took over.  The county is named for Kentucky Senator Henry Clay.  The county seat is named for a family of settlers. 

Clay County government consists of a sheriff and 14 Commissioners.  Seventeen Circuit Court Judges serve Clay, Christian, Clinton, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Marion, Montgomery, and Shelby counties.  The county is in southeast Illinois.  Saint Louis, Missouri is west and Evansville, Indiana is southeast of the county.  The county center is 3.9 miles Southeast of Louisville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Jasper, Richland, Wayne, Marion, Fayette, and Effingham counties. 

The area of the county is 468 square miles.  It is 59 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 80 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 28.4 persons per square mile making it 76 out of 102 in the state.  Clay County has 55.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 57 clips the northwest corner of the county from Effingham County and back into Effingham County, north to west.  United States Highway 45 goes north to south from Effingham County to Wayne County.  United States Highway 50 crosses east to west from Richland County to Marion County.  The county looks like a very high bench.  Louisville is located near the center of the county.  Flora is in the southern quarter of the county.  Louisville is the county seat and Flora is the largest city.  Louisville is 8.6% of the county population while Flora is 36.1% of the county population.