For the last few Clayton Time Warp columns we have been exploring what life was like in Clayton in 1936 using the recently digitized Clayton News. The project is focused on promoting this publicly available resource on Digital NC, Aug. 13, 1936. The main focus will be clippings that come
Good Morning, Clayton! Holy smokes, this is a long one. Even by my “Dan is writing these things way too long” standards. Which has actually given me an idea: I’m thinking about putting out a TL;DR version for paid subscribers. So basically the exact opposite of everywhere else.
Each Sunday, we're sharing a small bright spot from the previous edition of The Weekender Downtown Clayton got one hell of a sunset this past Monday night, captured here by council member Amanda Underwood. These colors show up when the setting sun has to travel through more of
Today's Time Warp takes us 90 years in the past to the first week of August 1936. The Clayton Market began to ship melons north on the first of the month, a new grocery store was getting ready to open, and Mr. John T. Talton was encouraged to
Good morning, Clayton! This week, welcome to the hellscape that is the life of every Downtown Clayton business owner: the downtown parking problem. Yes, I know. Nothing gets the blood pumping quite like a parking study and a town council work session. But buried beneath the hundreds of thousands of
![The Clayton Time Warp - July 30, 1936 "The [Two] Stop Lights"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2f/30/2f30efdc-507a-4954-97c5-0bbc338ea133/content/images/size/w600/2026/07/jpoLYtXX-1.jpg)
My name is Ben Chapman and I am a student of history and a professional archivist. I live in Clayton and I wanted to share stories about the history of Clayton. This local history column has two goals: 1. Focus on the local events and figures in the town of
Good morning, Clayton! Packed issue this week. For The Dispatch Lead, I sat down and really dug into Economic Development Director Joe Stallings’ presentation to the Planning Board from Monday night. I pulled out the parts I found most interesting: Clayton’s rapid growth, the town’s lopsided residential tax
Each Sunday, we're sharing a small bright spot from the previous edition of The Weekender After the sun sets in Downtown, Clayton Ghost Walks emerges from the dusk, offering a different way to experience some of the town’s history: on foot, by lantern light, and through stories
Good Morning, Clayton! Town Council is back in session, and boy howdy, what a week. Nothing says “welcome back” quite like a white-hot angry neighborhood, a possible million-dollar grant switcharoo, and another expensive town project with—as usual—a whole lot of questions. Before we get into all
Each Sunday, we're sharing a small bright spot from the previous edition of The Weekender Sometimes the best parts of a community are not the biggest projects or the loudest announcements. Sometimes they’re small wooden boxes sitting outside of churches, businesses, schools, and other neighborhood gathering places.
Good morning, Clayton! First off, thanks a ton for all the feedback you’ve sent about The Dispatch. I’m glad people are digging what we’re doing here. We’re growing, there’s a lot of cool new stuff coming soon, and I still have my sights set on
Clayton Council member Amanda Underwood ran on transparency and accountability. Now, from inside Town Hall, she says the issue is not simply whether information exists, but whether Council and the public can actually use it in time to understand major decisions before they are made. In our first Dispatch interview,