Clay Center in Butler County, Kansas is not much more than a place name. Its location is 210th street southeast and southeast Cole Creek road. (Yes, one is confused by the city of the same name in Clay County.)
Clay Center, Dist. no. 41, schoolhouse
You get there if you are heading east from Douglass towards Latham (10 miles), or if you are going south from Leon to Atlanta (9 miles). An old automotive building at the intersection proudly proclaims the name Clay Center. A house stands on the northwest corner and a one room schoolhouse, District No. 43, is on the southwest lot. The north branch of Rock Creek flows by wrapping around the schoolhouse and proceeding in a southwesterly direction
C. M. Price pre-empted the land, part of the twenty mile strip of the Osage Trust, at Clay Center after it was opened up to settlement in 1870, paying $1.25 an acre. The early settlers planted corn, wheat, oats, beans and other crops; in addition, raised cattle, horses, and mules for market. The township was organized in 1879 and a one room school was built soon after. The population of the township in 1880 was 410.
[Vol. Mooney’s History of Butler County, Kansas, 1916, contains C. M. Prices article on Clay Township.]
The one room schoolhouse is lovingly maintained. It is a typical clapboard frame construction with windows only on the south side.
The schoolhouse also appears in both the Butler County, Kansas atlases of 1885 and 1905.
hClay Township, Butler County 1905
1885 Clay Township
Clay Township, Butler County, Kansas 1885
Kansas One Room Schools 