Chartered in 1869, Clayton traces its roots to Hinton's Quarter, Johnston Liberty Meeting House, Roxboro, Gulley's Store, and Stallings Station, and owes its existence to the North Carolina Railroad, completed in 1856. By 1890, several citizens amassed fortunes in cotton, lumber, merchandising, and textile manufacturing, and the town was recognized as the nation's wealthiest municipality of its size. Nationally and internationally known natives, including Dartmouth professor Herman H. Horne, historian and diplomat William E. Dodd, Baptist stalwart John E. White, architect Douglas Ellington,...