Editing Clay County, North Carolina (section)

===20th century to present===
Clay County’s two-story brick jail was built in 1912 to replace a log building. In 1972, shop class students from [[Hayesville High School]] constructed a replacement prison in downtown Hayesville.<ref name="Padgett"/> That was in use until 2008 when a new $4.3 million detention center opened at the judicial complex site.<ref>{{cite news |last=Keely |first=Harrison |url=https://issuu.com/sentinelnews/docs/06.04.08-smoky-mountain-sentinel |title=New jailhouse rocks |work=Smoky Mountain Sentinel |location=Hayesville, NC |publisher=Sentinel Newspapers |date=June 4, 2008 |page=A1 |access-date=February 5, 2024}}</ref> Today the brick jail is home to the Clay County Historical & Arts Museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visitnc.com/listing/Rrk3/clay-county-historical-arts-museum#:~:text=The%20Clay%20County%20Historical%20%26%20Arts,the%20area%20through%20changing%20exhibits. |title=Clay County Historical & Arts Museum |work=VisitNC |publisher=Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina |quote=The Clay County Historical & Arts Museum is housed in the Old County Jail Museum which was constructed in 1912 and used as a jail until 1972. |access-date=February 5, 2024}}</ref>

Clay County's first official bank opened on May 18, 1910. A creamery opened in Brasstown in 1924. [[Mission Dam]] was constructed on the western end of the county in 1924.<ref name="Padgett"/> Gold mines operated in Tusquittee, Warne and Brasstown around the 1930s. In the 1940s and 50s, Clay County’s largest employers were band saw lumber mills. One of the county’s only manufacturing companies, Lidseen of North Carolina, Inc., has operated a metal fabrication plant in Warne since 1957. Another manufacturing plant, American Components Incorporated, made a metal film resistor for the [[Saturn V]] rocket that carried [[Neil Armstrong]] to the moon. Clay County has also manufactured ladies’ dresses, items for combat soldiers, and kitchen and bathroom fixtures.<ref name=Moorebook/>

The county’s first electric power came from a small dam across Shooting Creek near the Elf community in January 1920. The Blue Ridge Electric Association of [[Young Harris, Georgia]], took over providing electricity for all of Clay County in 1939. By 1950, every community in the county had electricity.<ref name="Padgett"/>

The first automobile came to Clay County in 1914. From the early 1900s until the 1930s, every male citizen of Clay County between the ages of 18 and 45 was required to work five days per year without pay to help maintain public roads.<ref name="Padgett"/><ref name=Moorebook/> Construction on [[US 64]] between Hayesville, Warne, and Brasstown started in 1921. In 1959 a new highway was built from Hayesville through Sweetwater to [[Peachtree, North Carolina|Peachtree]] to provide Clay County residents with faster access to [[Andrews, North Carolina|Andrews]]' new [[District Memorial Hospital]].<ref name="Padgett" /><ref name=":03">{{Cite news |last=McKeever |first=Mrs. Hobart |date=January 29, 1961 |title=Cherokee County Shows Greatest Progress During 1950-60 Decade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/201809295/?terms=cherokee%20county&match=1 |access-date=March 21, 2024 |work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |page=77}}</ref> The US 64 moniker moved to this new route and the former route became Old Hwy. 64. US 64 connected Hayesville to Franklin in the early 1930s. [[NC 69]] was built between Hayesville and Georgia in 1922. The entire road had to be relocated when [[Chatuge Lake]] was created twenty years later.<ref name="Padgett"/>

In October 1920, Clay County’s first and only railroad line, the Peavine, was completed between Hayesville and Andrews, where it connected with the [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Laney |first=Gideon Thomas |title=Train from Hayesville arriving at the Tusquittee station pulled by Climax locomotive #10 |url=https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/browse/search/train-from-hayesville-arriving-at-the-tusquittee-station-pulled-by-climax-locomotive-10 |access-date=February 27, 2024 |website=Southern Appalachian Digital Collections |publisher=[[Western Carolina University]] and University of North Carolina Asheville}}</ref> Cherokee and Clay counties each contributed $75,000 toward its construction. The Peavine hauled mainly lumber, but also [[kaolin]] mined in Clay County. The line was dismantled in 1951.<ref name="Padgett"/><ref name="Moorebook"/>

A silent film theater opened in the county in the 1920s. A movie theater later operated in Hayesville from the 1940s to the 1960s. The county has not had a movie theater since.<ref name="Moorebook" /> Clay County's public library was established by the 1930s. It began in a two-story building on Hayesville's town square and at some point moved to a small room in the courthouse.<ref name="Moorebook2">{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Carl S. |title=Clay County, N.C.: Then and Now |publisher=Genealogy Publishing Service |year=2008 |isbn=978-1881851240 |location=Franklin, N.C.}}</ref> In 1940 it became part of [[Nantahala Regional Library]] system. Its first librarian, Ellen Scroggs, was hired in 1943. A new $80,000 library building opened downtown on June 25, 1967.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 29, 1967 |title=Moss Library Dedicated Sunday |url=https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072291/1967-06-29/ed-1/seq-4/#words=Clay+County+Library |work=The Cherokee Scout and Clay County Progress |page=4}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=June 23, 1966 |title=Clay ready to start library construction; fund raising meeting set for Friday |url=https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072291/1966-06-23/ed-1/seq-9/#words=Moss+Memorial+Library |work=The Cherokee Scout and Clay County Progress |page=9}}</ref> It was named in honor of local-born Dr. Fred A. Moss, who gave $10,000 towards its construction and donated books.<ref name=":0" /> Today Moss Memorial Library is the only public library in Clay County.<ref name="Moorebook2" />
[[File:Lake_Chatuge_reservoir_in_Towns_County,_Georgia,_and_Clay_County,_North_Carolina_on_Aug._3,_2022.jpg|thumb|Lake Chatuge was created in 1942]]
[[Chatuge Dam]] was constructed near Hayesville in the early 1940s by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], creating [[Chatuge Lake]]. At the time, Chatuge Dam was the highest earthen dam in the world until the [[Aswan Dam]] was constructed in [[Egypt]] in 1964.<ref name="Moorebook2" /> The dam was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Register Database and Research - National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm |access-date=March 15, 2024 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref>

In the 1950s, Clay County's official song was written. Willie Forrest Standridge wrote "Clay County Song" to the tune of [[Onward, Christian Soldiers|Onward Christian Soldiers]].<ref name="Padgett" /> The Hinton Rural Life Center began in Clay County in 1957. It is a mission retreat operated by the United Methodist Church, serving churches across nine southeastern states and named in honor of benefactor Harold H. Hinton.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Galloway |first=Wanda P. |title=Clay County Heritage North Carolina Vol. II |publisher=The Clay County Heritage Book Committee |year=2017 |location=Hayesville, NC |pages=}}</ref> The Clay County Rescue Squad was organized in 1964.<ref name="Padgett" /> The county's first golf course opened in 1970.<ref name="Padgett" /> The Clay County Historical & Arts Council was founded February 6, 1974.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Beck |first=Reba |date=February 29, 2024 |title=Historical & Arts Council: We are 50 and struttin' our stuff |work=Clay County Progress |publisher=Community Newspapers, Inc. |location=Hayesville, NC |page=B6}}</ref> The [[Peacock Performing Arts Center]], the only community theatre in far-west North Carolina, opened in Hayesville in 1986.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 23, 2019 |title=About Us - Peacock Performing Arts Center - Hayesville, NC |url=https://www.thepeacocknc.org/about-us/ |access-date=March 22, 2024 |language=en}}</ref> The Clay County Chamber of Commerce began in 1986.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-12-26 |title=About the Chamber |work=[[Clay County Progress]] |publisher=[[Community Newspapers Inc.]] |location=Hayesville, NC |page=A8}}</ref> Clay County's building inspections department started in 1987.<ref name="Moorebook" /> The famed New Year's Eve "[[The Possum Drop|Possum Drop]]" was held annually in Brasstown between 1990 and 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elassar |first=Alaa |date=2019-12-31 |title=North Carolina town ends New Year's Eve Possum Drop tradition |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/31/us/north-carolina-opossum-drop-ends-trnd/index.html |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> The Clay County Recreation Center was built in Hayesville in 2007 and expanded in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.recreation.claync.us/about |access-date=April 19, 2024 |website=Clay County Recreation Center & Parks |language=en}}</ref> In early 2025, [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] purchased land in the county to build a distribution center and warehouse.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Long |first=Becky |date=2025-02-13 |title=Amazon buys property here |work=[[Clay County Progress]] |publisher=[[Community Newspapers Inc.]] |location=Hayesville, NC |pages=A1,A3}}</ref>

Since the nineteenth century, Clay County has remained largely agricultural.<ref name="ncmtn" /> Given its relative isolation, in the 21st century, residents continue to be overwhelmingly of European-American ancestry.