Guest Post by RiverWILD Real Estate Agent, Anna Brocco
There’s something about old buildings that makes you stop and wonder what they’ve seen.
I think about that a lot in downtown Clayton, especially when I walk into the Paper Co. Building at 114 West Main Street. The exposed brick and original beams make it easy to forget that the building has had several completely different lives.
It began in the 1920s as a Ford auto dealership owned by Paul H. Waddill, back when automobiles were still changing the way people moved through small towns like Clayton.
Decades later, in 1986, it became home to the North Carolina Paper Company, a wholesale paper goods distributor. For years, much of the building was primarily used for storage.
Then, in 2016, it was given another life. Local owners invested $1.8 million, along with a facade grant from the Town of Clayton, to transform the building into the open, light-filled space it is today.
They kept many of the features that made the building unique; the original brick, the beams and the character of the old structure, all while giving it an entirely new purpose. That transformation even earned a Best Innovation award in 2017.
I think the story of this building says a lot about Clayton. Because Clayton has always been a town that changes.
It All Started With the Railroad
Long before the downtown we know today, Clayton was a small railroad stop. In the 1850s, the area was known as Stallings’ Station, a depot along the North Carolina Railroad.
The town was eventually renamed Clayton and incorporated in 1869. The railroad changed everything. It brought people, goods and commerce through the area and helped turn a rural crossroads into a growing community.
In many ways, the tracks became the backbone around which Clayton developed.
Even today, you can still hear the trains moving through downtown. There’s something pretty remarkable about sitting in a building that has changed purposes several times while hearing the same railroad that helped establish the town in the first place.
It’s a reminder that Clayton’s growth didn’t begin recently. We’re simply part of the newest chapter.
Old Homes Have Stories Too
Clayton’s historic district tells a similar story. With nearly 300 homes and buildings, many dating from the 1850s through the 1950s, the district is more than a collection of old houses. It’s a record of how the community grew and how people lived in different eras.
Walk through the neighborhood and you’ll see different types of construction, additions that came years after the original homes were built and details that reflect the materials and building practices of their time.
Even some of the downtown buildings tell stories about what Clayton learned the hard way. After early downtown fires, masonry construction became an important part of rebuilding efforts.
Over time, buildings were altered, expanded and repurposed as the needs of the community changed. That’s one of my favorite things about historic buildings. They aren’t frozen in time. They’ve been changed, repaired, added onto and reinvented by generations of people.
And somehow, that’s part of what makes them special.
A Town That Keeps Building
Clayton looks very different today than it did 100 or even 50 years ago.
New neighborhoods have changed the landscape. New businesses have filled once-empty spaces. Families continue to move here, and the community continues to grow.
It can be tempting to think of historic Clayton and modern Clayton as completely separate. But when you look a little closer, they really aren’t.
The Paper Co. Building is a perfect example. A car dealership became a paper company, a storage space became a gathering place, and a historic structure found another purpose without losing the character that made it worth preserving.
That same idea can be seen all over Clayton. Growth doesn’t always mean starting over. Sometimes it means taking what already exists, appreciating its history and finding a way for it to have a future.
Maybe that’s one of the best things about a town like Clayton. It keeps moving forward without completely forgetting where it started. And if you happen to be downtown and hear the train roll through, take a second to listen.
It’s been part of Clayton’s story for a very long time.
If you are ready to establish your history here in Clayton, I’d love to chat and get to know your story. I’m passionate about Clayton and it would be my honor to help establish your history here in the town I love so well… Clayton, North Carolina!