Clay had four stores; one post office, Mr. Ed Yingling postmaster; one cotton gin, Uncle Bill Howell owner; Mr. Fate Sooter's blacksmith shop; one good high school with Prof. Jim Boggs as principal; and also the Clay Bible and Literary School, run by Mr. Oscar Dawson and wife, also three daughters and one son as teachers. Believe me, it was taught by the tune of the hickory stick. We had discipline back then.
It
was a strict school. If Mr. Dawson saw a girl and boy kissing,
he would send them home. Boys and girls coming here lived as far
away as Kansas City and St. Louis. I remember well one Saturday
night I went to church up at the college and I laid down and went
to sleep. He called me up Monday morning and told me he didn't
want to see that any more.The school lasted about three or four years and got deep in debt and was closed out and they moved to Heber Springs.
Clay was quite a town back 75 years ago. The railroad and then highway took these small places. The only thing left now at Clay is the Baptist church. I have one brother, Brad, now 96; Emma (Bage) Yingling, 93, Lillian 87. We have one cousin Mandy Jackson 101 years old - all that's left of the Adcocks and Howells generation.
There were also three doctors in Clay - Dr. McAdams, Mackey Crews' grandfather; Dr. Buice, [who has] three granddaughters now, Elma, Agnes, Lady Yingling, and one son, Bob Buice, the one you hear on the radio; the third doctor was a Dr. Lytle.
This college was located about one-fourth mile up the road toward Dewey. Sammy Adams' house is on the spot where the college stood.