Clayton continued to support the explosion of new growth in the 1980s that had begun a decade earlier. Its focus was extending beyond Main Street; with the completion of Interstate 40 from Raleigh to Benson, the town saw an increase in both residential and commercial growth. Family-friendly subdivisions were cropping up, and the town's population grew by 15 percent.
New technology was emerging, and Clayton's cable television subscribers got the chance to see some of their own on a new cable access show, "Spotlight on Clayton."
Many of those old shows can now be seen on host and real estate professional Keith Ferrell's website, spotlightclayton.com, and include appearances by Clayton's director of Parks and Recreation, Larry Bailey, and community members James Cash and Joyce Blackley.
The Clayton Women's Club realized a longstanding dream in 1981 with the opening of the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library at its present location on South Church Street. Since 1927, the group had been a strong supporter of having a public library in town. The new building offered 3,500 square feet of space and replaced the town hall library room that had opened in May 1931.
"The year 1981 should not only mark the culmination of the building project, but the beginning of continued growth for the library - not only in the number of books which it adds to its shelves, but in the growing interest of area residents in the opportunities that this library can offer," wrote The Clayton News in the May 13, 1981, edition.
The library would continue to grow in 1996, 2002 and 2007, adding three more rooms to house children's books, reference materials and a dedicated meeting room.
More books, more rooms
Betty Coats has overseen the library since 1973 and recalls local Boy Scouts assisting in transferring more than 7,000 volumes from the cramped town hall location to the present site.
"When we moved in here, we had all kinds of room. Since then, we've come a long way by adding on to the existing building three times over."
In 1981, just Coats and two additional part-time employees staffed the library just shy of 21 hours per week. Now, the library is open twice as long and circulates over 13,000 books per month with Coats overseeing a staff of nine employees.
"We've added a lot of books since then," Coats remarked. "I've seen the library grow and it feels great to have people come in and say 'thank you' for what we do. The people are proud of it and the town is proud of us."
Library board members, Friends of the Library chairs and Coats traveled around the state touring similarly sized libraries to glean ideas for exterior and interior designs for the new building. They decided to pattern the facility after the main library in Pittsboro and chose an exterior design to complement the overall look of Clayton's downtown architecture.
A second paper
On March 4, 1986, Clayton native Brad Crone began publication of The Clayton Star, the town's second weekly newspaper, which gave The Clayton News some healthy rivalry.
Crone's objective was to provide the town with more localized reporting than he felt The Clayton News, owned by Ralph and Muriel Delano since 1956, lacked. Publisher Delano was based in Benson and also owned The Benson Review and The Four Oaks News.
"We really didn't have a local paper," said Crone, who now lives in Raleigh and runs Campaign Connections, a political and corporate public relations firm. "There was now an option or choice for readers and advertisers, and it gave a clearly different perspective. The competition forced the Delanos to put out a better product."
Crone, then 23, published the newspaper from an office on East Main Street using two Macintosh computers and a LaserWriter printer. He said The Clayton Star was the first newspaper in the state entirely desktop published. What set him apart from the competition, he believes, was that he made a conscious effort to focus on the people of Clayton.
"I was able to interact and live with them and understand their traditions," Crone said. "I think that's what made it successful. Clayton was my home, and I wanted to provide a local news perspective that was a voice for the local people."
Both papers vied for readers' attention for three years. In 1989 the Delanos bought The Clayton Star and combined names to form The Clayton News-Star.
The year 1989 was memorable for the Clayton High School varsity football team. The Comets finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record and went on to defeat two of the top-ranked teams in the state to capture the 2-A state championship title. The distinction was the first in the school's history and only the second win for Johnston County in 30 years.
Offensive and defensive tackle Neal Weaver, a 1990 graduate, recalls the Comets' being picked to finish third in their division. He said the team was met with an overwhelming amount of support during the final two games against Farmville Central and Monroe with thousands of fans packing the stands at CHS's field.
"We weren't supposed to win any of the final games, but it just worked out," he said. "We didn't have a lot of power players but we were well motivated."
