Editing Clay Center, Ohio (section)

==History==
Clay Center derives its name from originally being the center of a larger [[Clay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio|Clay Township]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Overman|first=William Daniel|title=Ohio Town Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015015361465;view=1up;seq=45|year=1958|publisher=Atlantic Press|location=Akron, OH|page=29}}</ref> When Ottawa County was founded in 1840, Allen Township did not exist, but was the northern half of a larger Clay Township. When the Townships split in 1888, Clay Center became a part of Allen Township.

The town was founded by William Clark, a land speculator who believed a town in the center of the large township would be more likely to grow than the southern population center, Genoa. In 1883 Clay Township and Genoa discussed building a new Town Hall, and it was decided that Clay Township would help construct the building in downtown Genoa, instead of the geographic center in Clay Center.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Local tradition states that this was the reason for Clay Township splitting in two a few years later.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}