The R L Polk Company is one of a kind. They made numbers their business, and they never strayed from it. Numbers and names in a population Census, Assigned a credit rating for every adult in the land, Every Business in America, Telephone Numbers for every Phone # in America plus addresses. If a Company or private citizen paid their bills in a timely fashion it was recorded as such. If they didn't, same thing. A given company could subscribe and received a book for the region desired. Pick up that little book, turn to Westby Mercantile Clayton, Washington, and there was the rating for all to see. Probably A1. If it read AA1 it was a larger business, AAA1 as big as they get. The 1 depicted 'prompt' 11 Satisfactory and on and on.
RL POLK was a nation wide Company involved in a massive Nationwide tabulation from Phone Directories Census taking and Credit Ratings of every Business or Citizen in the Continental United States of America. A monumental task & they did it well. The following statistics are a prime example.
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1915 Clayton Census Registry. 1
An approximate time line of 1932. After the Moose Lodge was built in 1926 - 1927. So this is what our home town of Clayton appeared when the 1932 R L Polk census was taken.
The town of Clayton was born and came out determination. The business district and the brick yard burned to the ground. Clayton regrouped, rose from the ashes and fought back. It’s not certain if it ever returned to its original status. However it was always a thriving bustling little burg. Clayton was typical of all America, but with something special added. It was the people. They emigrated from European nations, they moved in from the East Coast and the Midwest, drifted in from the Southwest & when they were through intermingling the strongest traits of all walks of life prevailed and there was Clayton. Small but mighty!
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Clayton and other cities of Stevens County, page #1
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1915 Clayton Census Registry 2
1915 Clayton Census Registry 1
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