In 1824, the year after Hamilton County was organized, William McShane purchased property in the future Clay Township near present day 106 th Street and Westfield Boulevard. Between 18, following the opening and sale of government lands, about a dozen families moved to the west bank of White River in the western half of what would become Delaware Township. Long a hunting area for the Lenni Lenape (or Delaware) people who had settled along the White River north of present day Conner Prairie Museum, a French trapper and his Native American wife in the early 1820s lived briefly in the area that is now Carmel. It was the bounty of nature that attracted the earliest settlers to the area. The last farm within the city limits of Carmel ceased operation in 1993, thereby ending Carmel’s connection with its agricultural roots. By 1991, only 1.32 percent of Carmel’s population and 1.1 percent of Clay’s residents were involved in agricultural industry. This meteoric growth has all but destroyed the agricultural industry that was the economic base for the area prior to the 1970s. Over the next three decades, Carmel’s population grew by 287 percent while Clay Township grew 321 percent during the same period, the City of Indianapolis experienced a 32 percent growth rate. In 1960, the US Census Bureau reported Carmel’s population to be 1,442 Clay Township had 10,215 residents. The change from rural farming community to affluent suburb has come about in the recent past, with the most significant change occurring in the last 35 years. All of this contributes to a community of wealth and stability that many in America find enviable. The median home value for the township was $132,100 and $142,500 for Carmel. This family-centered, educated population reaped the economic benefits of their stability with a mean family income of $61,236 in Clay Township and $62,686 in Carmel. Forty-three percent of Clay residents and 51 percent of Carmel residents over the age of 25 had a college education, as compared to 30 percent in Lawrence Township and 41 percent in Washington Township of Marion County. Married couples with children comprised nearly 73 percent of township and 70 percent of Carmel households. The social and economic characteristics of the Carmel-Clay population reflect an educated, affluent citizenry vastly different from surrounding Indiana counties. Developers are confident that the fast-paced growth of residential, business, and commercial centers in the city and surrounding Clay Township which began in the early 1970s will continue well into the 21 stcentury. In 1990, the 3 rd class city of Carmel had a population of 25,380, while Clay Township totaled 43,007 residents. Once a quiet farming village serving a surrounding agricultural township, the city of Carmel is at the center of the one of the fastest growing townships in Indiana. Local officials placed a referendum before the voters, proposing to move the Clay Township boundary eastward to the White River voters accepted this alteration. Problems arising from the administration of local schools and government necessitated a change, however. By that time, the town of Carmel had developed largely towards the east into Delaware Township.

These political boundaries remained in place until 1954. In later years, this town came to be known as Carmel. In 1837, four farmers with adjoining property each donated equal acreage to create a town called Bethlehem along the rangeline with equal parts in Delaware and Clay townships. Delaware Township was sandwiched between Clay on the west and Fall Creek Township on the east with the White River bisecting the township north to south about midway. In 1833, county commissioners divided the county into nine townships with Clay spanning from the southwest corner of Boone County on the west to present day Range Line Road on the east. The City of Carmel is located in the east central portion of Clay Township and has been the largest center of population throughout the township’s long history.ĭuring the earliest part of its history, what is known today as Clay Township was part of Delaware Township which comprised the lower half of Hamilton County.

Clay Township, covering 50 square miles of mixed use property, is bounded on the south by Marion County (96 th Street), the west by Boone County (Michigan Road), the east by White River, and the north by 146 th Street. It has, in recent years, grown rapidly and become a self-supporting community of significant commercial, industrial, and residential importance. The Carmel-Clay Township area serves as a northern suburb of Indianapolis.

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