Formed January 1, 1871 (68th county)
Clay County (18,635), West Point (10,106)
A white brick Modern facility was built in 1957 at the corner of Court Street and Jordan Avenue. Mississippi Highway 50 is two blocks north of the location. There was an 1876 courthouse earlier. Fort, White, and Johnston were the building designers. The county was formed on January 1, 1871 from parts of Chickasaw, Lowndes, Monroe, and Oktibbeha counties as the 68th county. West Point has always been the county seat. It is named for United States Secretary of State Henry Clay. The county seat is presumably a geographical term.
Clay County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive). It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.) Three Chancery Court Judges serve Clay, Chickasaw, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, and Webster counties, Three District Court Judges serve Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, and Oktibbeha counties and a court clerk serves Clay County (judicial.) Clay County is in the northeast part of the state. Jackson, Mississippi is southwest and Memphis, Tennessee is northwest of the county. The county center is 12.3 miles West-Northwest of West Point nearer Cedarbluff. The county is surrounded clockwise by Monroe, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Webster, and Chickasaw counties.
The area of the county is 409 square miles. It is 74 out of 82 in the state. It ranks 49 out of 82 in population in the state. It has a density of 45.6 persons per square mile making it 35 out of 82 in the state. Clay County has 54.2% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 45 Alternate crosses the eastern portion of the county north to south from Monroe County to Lowndes County. The county looks like the State of Louisiana flattened out. West Point is in the southeast quarter of the county. West Point is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 54.2% of the county population. This county is in the West Point Micropolitan Statistical Area.
West Point
