Flatonia

Flatonia is on Interstate Highway 10, U.S. Highway 90, and the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad twelve miles west of Schulenburg in southwestern Fayette County. It was established on April 8, 1874, on land acquired from William Alexander Faries (Ferris, Farris) by the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway and named for pioneer merchant F. W. Flato. At that time residents of the original Flatonia settlement, one mile southeast, and Oso, three miles northeast, loaded their homes and businesses on wagons and moved to the new location on the tracks. The post office that had been established at old Flatonia in 1870 was moved to the new town without changing its name. Flatonia was incorporated on November 10, 1875, and its first election was held the following December 6. By 1878 the town had a population of 800, and the economy depended equally on cattle and cotton.

The original settlers in the area were primarily Anglo-American. Opportunities provided by the railroad and inexpensive real estate, which sold for one to fifteen dollars an acre for uncultivated land and five to thirty-five dollars per acre for cultivated, brought successive waves of German, Bohemian, Greek, Arabian, and Italian immigrants. In the mid-1880s the Waco branch of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway completed a north-south line through Flatonia and brought new settlements, Muldoon on the north and Moulton on the south. This competition for business plus the agricultural depression of the time caused a decline in the town's economy and by 1900 occasioned a substantial loss in population.

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Jeff Carroll | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Flatonia is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Flatonia is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 29.68868160
Longitude: -97.10610700

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

1,336