He taught school at Bastrop, TX from 1900 to 1903 and in 1903 he was appointed as principal of the Manor Colored School, also known as the Negro Graded School.
The school occupied one building in block 1 of the town of Manor. It was run as a traditional public school until 1911 when a tour of Texas by Booker T. Washington inspired Clayton to improve and expand the facility to include dormitories and additional classrooms. A two-story building was built and furnished on the school lot. Dedication ceremonies for the new school building were held on February 3, 1912. Another building was added where students were taught canning, sewing, millinery, agriculture and they received manual training. A cannery was started where students learned to preserve produce from their own farms.
In 1915 Principal Clayton urged the State to recognize the school, now having more than 300 students, as a State Industrial Institution. As a result, the school was renamed the Clayton Industrial High School.
A June 13, 1916 article in the Austin Statesman and Tribune newspaper stated that J. E. Clayton had been offered the presidency of the Fort Worth Industrial and Mechanical College but that he turned down the offer because of plans that the had to build up at Manor an industrial school similar to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
In November, 1916 the trustees of the Manor Independent School District purchased six acres of land from Alice B. and William Vickers. Manor ISD paid $100 in cash and the remainder of $1400 was to be paid in full by November 25, 1923. Mrs. Vickers was a teacher in the grammar school department of Manor ISD. The deed for the land specifically stated that it was “especially for the use and benefit of the Clayton Industrial High School (colored) of Manor, Texas.”
 |
| Travis County Deed Record 300, pages 637-638 (snippets) |
In 1917 the U. S. Congress passed the Smith-Hughes act that promoted vocational education in "agriculture, trades and industry, and homemaking" and provided federal funds for this purpose. The Clayton Industrial High School was one of only 4 schools for “colored” students in the State of Texas to receive these funds that year.
November 16, 1917 George W. Brackenridge of San Antonio paid off the note due on the six acres and released the property to the Manor ISD for the use of the Clayton Industrial High School.
November 16, 1917 George W. Brackenridge of San Antonio paid off the note due on the six acres and released the property to the Manor ISD for the use of the Clayton Industrial High School.
 |
| Travis County Deed Record 301, page 97 |
 |
| Austin American newspaper February 10, 1918 |
A March 9, 1918 article in The Statesman newspaper printed details of ceremonies that were to be held for the dedication of the new Breckenridge Hall on the campus of the school. Staff members of the school were listed as:
J. E. Clayton, principal – mathematics and sciences
Texana Robinson, history and geography
Maud Kellough, intermediate department
Maud Ikard, primary departments
A. V. Smith, English
C. Morrison, general assistant
J. J. Hayden, agriculture and manual training
Brittie Clayton, domestic science and art
On March 15, 1918 dedication ceremonies were held at the school. The next day, a headline said: "CLAYTON INSTITUTE DEDICATED FRIDAY; VALUED AT $50,000". The article in the Austin American newspaper went on to say:
September 9, 1918 the Manor ISD Board of Trustees applied to the Travis County Commissioner’s Court to be allowed to sell lots 1, 2, 4 and 6 in block 1 of the town of Manor to Ben and Texanna Meeks for the price of $400. The application stated that these 4 lots had previously been used by the Negro Graded School of the Manor ISD which had now moved to another location and the lots were no longer needed for school purposes. Permission to do so was granted by the Court. The lots were sold to the Meeks by deed that was dated September 14, 1921.
A follow-up story in the April 19, 1919 edition of The Statesman newspaper under the headline “MANOR HAS GOOD TRAINING SCHOOL” said this:
The San Antonio Express newspaper published a story on May 7, 1919 which said,
In 1920, the school made plans to add a laundry, a broom and mattress factory and a dairy herd to the school. It was hoped that patriotic citizens of Manor would furnish a sufficient number of cows for the dairy. Students involved in the laundry, the broom and mattress factory and the dairy would all be paid for their work so that they could have a part in financing their own education.
Principal Clayton apparently left the Clayton Vocational Institute in 1923. A September 9, 1923 article in the Austin Statesman newspaper said:
In the article Clayton stated that his salary for the school year was $1200 but that he gave $1015 of that so that other staff could be paid. He also gave $40 for groceries for the school, leaving him with a total salary of $145 for the school year. He said also that he had donated his entire salary for the last three years so that the colored children of Manor might be given a first class education without experiencing financial difficulties.
He also mentioned that the 4 lots in block 23 of Manor that he got from W. P. Allen, originally intended for his own use, had a two-story, ten room residence located there and that he had donated it all to the Trust Fund Commissioners so that the over 420 students of the school could be properly educated.
In 1984 the Texas Historical Commission erected a marker at one of the last remaining buildings of the school.
In 2017, the marker was moved to its present location in front of what was then the Manor Voluntary Library which was located in the only remaining building of the school. Rededication ceremonies were held on February 24th of that year.
During his time at the school in Manor and for many years thereafter, Joseph Clayton was involved in programs and organizations that were designed to help "colored" farmers to better themselves and their work, all over the state of Texas and beyond.
J. E. Clayton, principal – mathematics and sciences
Texana Robinson, history and geography
Maud Kellough, intermediate department
Maud Ikard, primary departments
A. V. Smith, English
C. Morrison, general assistant
J. J. Hayden, agriculture and manual training
Brittie Clayton, domestic science and art
On March 15, 1918 dedication ceremonies were held at the school. The next day, a headline said: "CLAYTON INSTITUTE DEDICATED FRIDAY; VALUED AT $50,000". The article in the Austin American newspaper went on to say:
“Ceremonies incident to the dedication of the Clayton Industrial Institute, a negro institution at Manor, which, including the new building with 100 acres of land, is valued at $50,000, were in progress all day yesterday.”
 |
| The Austin American newspaper March 16, 1918 |
The August 20, 1918 edition of the Austin American newspaper ran a story with this headline: “NEGRO INSTITUTION AT MANOR TO HAVE AID OF NATIONAL FUNDS IN PROSECUTION OF ITS WORK." The article said that the Clayton Industrial School at Manor would be receiving $1000 per year from the Slater Board of Education in Charlottesville, Virginia and $500 annually from the general board of education in New York City. The Slater fund would also arrange for the employment and payment of another teacher in the Manor school.
September 9, 1918 the Manor ISD Board of Trustees applied to the Travis County Commissioner’s Court to be allowed to sell lots 1, 2, 4 and 6 in block 1 of the town of Manor to Ben and Texanna Meeks for the price of $400. The application stated that these 4 lots had previously been used by the Negro Graded School of the Manor ISD which had now moved to another location and the lots were no longer needed for school purposes. Permission to do so was granted by the Court. The lots were sold to the Meeks by deed that was dated September 14, 1921.
 |
| Travis County Commissoners Court minutes N, page 316 |
 |
| Travis County Deed Record 306, page 553 |
On February 18, 1919 the thirty-sixth legislature of The State of Texas passed House Bill Number 28 which said, in part:
“That the school located in said Manor Independent School District now known as Clayton Industrial High School is hereby established to be hereafter known and designated as Clayton Vocational Institute, for the education of colored boys and girls in the arts and sciences in which such boys and girls may acquire a good literary education of at least academic grade, together with a knowledge of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, stock raising, domestic arts, and sciences, including the several branches and studies usually taught in established schools of like character, having in view the training of such boys and girls for the more important industrial activities of life, while at the same time acquiring a good practical literary education.”
A follow-up story in the April 19, 1919 edition of The Statesman newspaper under the headline “MANOR HAS GOOD TRAINING SCHOOL” said this:
"The Clayton Vocational Institute of Manor, created by an act of the last legislature, is a school for colored boys and girls that offers courses in practical agriculture, horticulture, stock raising and domestic arts and sciences, including the several branches and studies usually taught in schools of like character. By this act the Clayton Industrial High School was reorganized and placed in a position to become a much larger and better school."
The San Antonio Express newspaper published a story on May 7, 1919 which said,
“Governor Hobby today sent to the Senate the following nominations of trust fund commissioners for Clayton Vocational Institute in the Manor Independent School District of Travis County: William Luedecke, John F. Nagle and M. C. Abrams, all of Travis County. This school is endowed and efforts are to be made to make it the “Tuskegee College of the Southwest.”
In 1920, the school made plans to add a laundry, a broom and mattress factory and a dairy herd to the school. It was hoped that patriotic citizens of Manor would furnish a sufficient number of cows for the dairy. Students involved in the laundry, the broom and mattress factory and the dairy would all be paid for their work so that they could have a part in financing their own education.
 |
| The Statesman newspaper June 26, 1920 |
On December 1, 1920 Joseph Clayton purchased lots 7, 8, 9 and 10 in block 23 of the town of Manor from Judge Wilbur P. Allen, Austin philanthropist and capitalist. The purchase price was $2500. Clayton paid $2000 at the time of the purchase and signed a note for the $500 balance that was due to be paid on or before three years after that date. Only 17 days later, Clayton then donated these same 4 lots to the Trust Fund Commissioners that had been appointed to oversee the Clayton Vocational Institute for the Manor ISD. It was stipulated in the deed that the money received for the sale of the lots would first be used to pay off the $500 note held by Clayton and the remainder was to be used to build a new dormitory at the school. The Trust Fund Commissioners paid off the note of $500 and W. P. Allen released the lien on the property on September 10, 1921. The Commissioners sold all 4 lots to three different Manor residents on September 24, 1921 for a total of $675.
 |
| Travis County Deed Record 327, page 232 |
"Review of the work and activities of the Clayton Vocational Institute of Manor during the 1922-23 term is outlined by J. E. Clayton, former principal, in a statement sent to Commissioner B. W. Giles in which Clayton asks for the financial and moral support for the school in order that education of the colored children of that community started by him may be furthered."
In the article Clayton stated that his salary for the school year was $1200 but that he gave $1015 of that so that other staff could be paid. He also gave $40 for groceries for the school, leaving him with a total salary of $145 for the school year. He said also that he had donated his entire salary for the last three years so that the colored children of Manor might be given a first class education without experiencing financial difficulties.
He also mentioned that the 4 lots in block 23 of Manor that he got from W. P. Allen, originally intended for his own use, had a two-story, ten room residence located there and that he had donated it all to the Trust Fund Commissioners so that the over 420 students of the school could be properly educated.
In 1984 the Texas Historical Commission erected a marker at one of the last remaining buildings of the school.
 |
| Historical marker original location 1984 |
 |
| Historical marker relocated 2017 |
During his time at the school in Manor and for many years thereafter, Joseph Clayton was involved in programs and organizations that were designed to help "colored" farmers to better themselves and their work, all over the state of Texas and beyond.
He is believed to have died in 1958 but many records of his life don't list a date or location of his death.
I wish they would honor Rev Clayton by naming one of the new schools after him. No one realizes how much he sacrificed for Manor students.
ReplyDelete