Clinton, North Carolina

Clinton ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Sampson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,383. Clinton is named for Richard Clinton, a Brigadier General of the North Carolina militia in the American Revolution.

History

The first settlers came to the Clinton area around 1740. The community was originally known as Clinton Courthouse. There was an earlier incorporated town of Clinton elsewhere in the state; however, that town folded in 1822 and Clinton was incorporated as a town in the same year. In 1852, the General Assembly passed several acts to improve regulation of towns, including Clinton. As part of the "Act for the Better Regulation of the Town of Clinton in the County of Sampson," the General Assembly appointed five commissioners: James Moseley, Isaac Boykin, Dr. Henry Bizzel, John Beaman, and Alfred Johnson. The corporate limits of the town at that time extended a half mile each way from the courthouse. The first records of an election were in February 1852 and the first tax rate was $0.50 per $100 valuation of real property. In July 1953, the town became a city.

Clinton is the geographic center of the county, and because Sampson County is primarily rural farmland, Clinton developed as the major agricultural marketing center. Clinton is also where future 13th Vice President William R. King, (1786-1853), later of Alabama, under 14th President Franklin Pierce, (1804-1869), of New Hampshire, was born and began his legal career. He was inaugurated in March 1853 in Havana, Cuba, the only American executive official to be sworn in on foreign soil. He died shortly after being separately sworn in.

Clinton had a minor league baseball team in the Tobacco State League from 1946 to 1950, which was the last stop in the colorful career of Brooklyn Dodgers All-star pitcher Van Lingle Mungo.

The Bethune-Powell Buildings, Gen. Thomas Boykin House, Clinton Commercial Historic District, Clinton Depot, College Street Historic District, Graves-Stewart House, Robert Herring House, Johnson Building, Marcheston Killett Farm, Livingston Oates Farm, Patrick-Carr-Herring House, Pigford House, Pope House, Francis Pugh House, Pugh-Boykin House, Royal-Crumpler-Parker House, and West Main-North Chesnutt Streets Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which (0.28%) is water.

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Clinton has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Clinton was on August 22, 1983, while the coldest temperature recorded was on January 21, 1985.

|source 2 = National Weather Service

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Clinton had a population of 8,383. The median age was 41.9 years. 22.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.4 males age 18 and over.

99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.

There were 3,348 households in Clinton, of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 34.2% were married-couple households, 17.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 43.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 1,826 families residing in the city.