Clive developed as an early rail shipping point and coal mining area centered on Walnut Creek, a railroad, and a county road, appearing on maps in the 1880's as a small settlement and being platted by the Union Land Company on January 18, 1882. Incorporated on October 9, 1956, it was an old community but a young city. The origin of the name Clive is uncertain, with one theory linking it to British General Robert Clive and another to a section gang foreman associated with railroad construction. Built in 1882, the Clive depot became the cornerstone of the community, with freight, mail, cattle, produce, and passengers passing through it as trains came frequently along what later was remembered as a vital shipping point on the Milwaukee Railroad. Around the turn of the century, trains passed the depot at N.W. 86th Street and Swanson Boulevard every half hour, and bridge gangs often camped nearby while repairing the tracks, including one led by Frank Charles. The general store at the northwest corner of N.W. 86th Street and Swanson Boulevard opened in the late 1800's, was purchased by William Howe in 1915, burned in the 1920's, and was replaced by a structure that served as both a store and post office until 1949.