Clay County, Nebraska

Clay County is a south-central Nebraska county covering 572 square miles of fertile agricultural land. The county seat is Clay Center, situated at the junction of U.S. Highway 6 and Nebraska Highway 14. Clay County's economy is anchored by corn, soybean, and cattle production across the Republican River watershed. The county was organized in 1871 and named for Kentucky statesman Henry Clay.

Clay County is home to 13 communities and approximately 6,000 residents. It borders Hamilton County (north), Fillmore County (east), Nuckolls County (south), and Adams County (west). Notable Clay County figures include Baseball Hall of Fame manager Billy Southworth, arctic explorer Walter Wellman, Medal of Honor recipient Jacob Volz, and Governor Samuel McKelvie.

Towns in Clay County

Browse all towns: Clay County Town Index →

Clay Center, Nebraska (68933)

County seat at the junction of US-6 and NE-14. Founded 1879, named for Henry Clay. Clay Center High School consistently ranks above state academic averages.

Pop: ~735 | Highways: US-6, NE-14 | City, County Seat

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Sutton, Nebraska (68979)

Clay County's largest city, founded 1871 on the Burlington railroad and named for Sutton, Massachusetts. Birthplace of Medal of Honor recipient Jacob Volz and arctic explorer Walter Wellman.

Pop: ~1,447 | Highways: US-6 | City

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Harvard, Nebraska (68944)

Founded 1871, named after Harvard University. Birthplace of Baseball Hall of Famer Billy Southworth and musician Paul Revere (Paul Revere and the Raiders).

Pop: ~951 | City

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Edgar, Nebraska (68935)

City in southern Clay County, platted 1873. Named for the son of a pioneer settler.

Pop: ~428 | City

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Fairfield, Nebraska (68938)

Founded 1872. Birthplace of Governor Samuel Roy McKelvie (19th Governor of Nebraska). Sandy Creek Jr/Sr. High School serves the area.

Pop: ~330 | City

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Glenvil, Nebraska (68941)

Village founded 1873. The 1903 Glenville School is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1997, Bill Gates donated $5,000 for a community playground after residents wrote celebrity letters.

Pop: ~267 | Village

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More Clay County Communities

Trumbull (68980) · Deweese (68934) · Saronville (68975) · Ong (68452) · Inland (68954) · Verona · Eldorado

Clay County Cameras

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Highways & Corridors

U.S. Highway 6 runs east-west through Clay Center and Sutton, connecting Clay County to Hastings (Adams County, west) and York (east).
Nebraska Highway 14 runs north-south through Clay Center, linking Hamilton County (north) to Nuckolls County (south).
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Clay County Directory

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Region

Clay County is part of South Central Nebraska — a region of agricultural communities across the Republican River watershed.

Adjacent Counties

Hamilton County (north, #28) · Fillmore County (east, #34) · Nuckolls County (south, #42) · Adams County (west, #14)

County Seat: Clay Center
Founded: Boundaries set February 16, 1867; organized September 11, 1871
Named For: Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman
License Plate Prefix: 30
Population: 6,104 (2020 census)
Area: 574 sq mi

History

Nebraska has had two Clay Counties, and the present one is not continuous with the first. The original was created in 1855 and later absorbed; the modern county was organized in 1871. Clay Center is the county seat and its name, like Center in Knox County, is its explanation — it sits in the middle.

Sutton was the first town, settled in 1870 by families from Sutton, Massachusetts, and the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad brought Harvard, Edgar, Fairfield, Glenvil, Ong, Trumbull, Saronville and Deweese through the 1870s and 1880s. It has been a farming county throughout.

Geography

Clay County covers about 573 square miles of south-central Nebraska, on the level loess plain between the Platte and the Little Blue. Its defining feature is not a river but a scatter of shallow wetlands: this is the heart of the Rainwater Basin, a landscape of clay-bottomed playas that hold snowmelt in spring and often dry out by late summer.

School Creek and the West Fork of the Big Blue drain the county, and the Little Blue clips the far south. It borders Hamilton County to the north, York County to the north-east, Fillmore County to the east, Nuckolls County to the south, Webster County to the south-west and Adams County to the west.

Outdoors — Camping, RV, Hunting & Fishing

Clay County is a hunting and birding county, not a camping or fishing county, and it is worth saying so plainly. What it has instead is one of the great wildlife spectacles in North America.

The Rainwater Basin

Each spring an estimated seven to nine million ducks and two to three million geese stop in the Rainwater Basin. Clay County holds sixteen federal Waterfowl Production Areas totalling about 6,374 acres — the largest concentration of any county in the district.

An important distinction: Harvard Marsh, Massie Lagoon and Smith Lagoon are federal Waterfowl Production Areas owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, not Nebraska state Wildlife Management Areas. That is why they do not appear on Game and Parks’ WMA list. All are open to public hunting.

Harvard WPA is the flagship — two miles west of Harvard, about 1,485 acres, of which 760 are wetland. Up to half a million waterfowl in mid-March, plus sandhill cranes, bald eagles and greater prairie-chickens. Facilities are parking areas and nothing else — no trails, no restrooms, no water, no camping. Free.

Check conditions before traveling. These are playas: in a dry year they can be bone dry and empty of birds, and the section roads can be impassable when wet. The Rainwater Basin district office at Funk is on (308) 263-3000.

Camping and RV

Sutton RV Park and Campground, 107 West Grove Street, is the only campground confirmed in the county. Sites 1–14 are premium, with 20/30/50-amp electric plus water and sewer at the site, at $10 a night or $300 a month. Sites A, B and C are basic, 20/30-amp electric and water only, at $5 a night for up to fourteen days. Check in at City Hall; after hours contact the police department. Showers, restrooms and a separate dump station are not confirmed.

There is no state park, state recreation area or NRD campground anywhere in Clay County. Nearest full-service public camping is Hastings, about eighteen miles west in Adams County.

Fishing

Honestly: there is no meaningful public fishery in Clay County. The Rainwater Basin wetlands are shallow, ephemeral playas — waterfowl habitat, not fish habitat. Game and Parks lists no managed fishing lake in the county, and no developed public access on the Little Blue or School Creek.

Hunting

Waterfowl first — mallard, pintail, blue-winged and green-winged teal, white-fronted and light geese — with pheasant and quail on the upland margins and whitetail on the larger tracts. The late-winter Light Goose Conservation Order is a significant draw. A federal duck stamp is needed alongside Nebraska permits and HIP registration, and non-toxic shot is required.

Kissinger Basin WMA, about 486 acres near Fairfield, is the state WMA in the county. Open Fields and Waters walk-in tracts change annually — use the current Public Access Atlas.

Trails

There is no rail-trail, state trail or scenic byway in Clay County. The county’s outdoor draw is the spring migration, watched from county roads and WPA parking areas.

Events

The Clay County Fair at Clay Center anchors the summer, and Sutton, Harvard, Edgar and Fairfield each hold their own celebrations. For birders the fixed point of the year is the spring waterfowl migration in March.

Dates move year to year, so they are kept with the listings rather than repeated here.

Browse event listings in Clay County →
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Clay County at a Glance

Clay County, Nebraska — about 573 square miles of level loess farmland in the south-central part of the state, and the heart of the Rainwater Basin. County seat Clay Center. 216 listings across 13 towns.

Getting there: US-6 crosses the north through Sutton and Harvard; NE-14 and NE-41 cross the county; I-80 lies about fifteen miles north.

For visitors: the spring waterfowl migration — seven to nine million ducks and up to three million geese pass through the Rainwater Basin, with up to half a million on Harvard Marsh alone in mid-March. Sixteen federal Waterfowl Production Areas, all open to public hunting. Note there is no public fishing lake and only one campground, at Sutton.

Clay County · South Central Nebraska · County Cameras