Although the physical demands of working on the railroad were hard and the work was dangerous, the jobs offered Clay Station residents a better alternative over sharecropping and domestic work. Southern railroads recruited the steady supply of African Americans available in the work force and habitually paid them less than white workers. Positions exclusive to the race were physically intensive jobs like track building and maintenance.

Small business became another major source of economic development in Clay Station, despite segregation. The enormously successful Austin Walton (b. 1883) was considered the most successful African American businessman and proprietor in town. His family, who came from North Carolina, was known to own substantial acreage of land in both Clay Station and nearby Wilcox. He used his skill set and resources to take advantage of several employment and business development opportunities. Walton obtained permits to establish businesses that included a general store and dance hall, thus providing employment for residents. Railroad workers who lived and worked temporarily in the camps heavily patronized his businesses. He was also the first African American U.S. Postmaster in Clay. He also donated land to build a community park where he hosted annual rodeos, Negro County fairs, and cultural activities like the annual Juneteenth celebration.

During the era of Negro Baseball Leagues, a group of Clay men formed their own team called the Clay Black Cats, promoted and sponsored by Walton. A 1933 article in The Caldwell News and The Burleson County Ledger described the Blacks Cats “as one of the strongest Negro teams in this section of Texas whose games charmed hundreds of black and white fans as well.”

Clay Station at one time was home to three denominations: a Baptist church, an AME Methodist church, and Church of God in Christ (COGIC). The Pleasant Home Missionary Baptist Church was the oldest entity, organized in 1903. Rev. W. H. Brooks was the first pastor.

The Clay Colored School, first organized in 1879, was originally located three miles away at Sand Pitt in a little church known as Little Elm. The school later relocated to Clay Station. Clay Colored School was a center of pride where many students went on to earn college degrees and settle into successful careers.