OUR HISTORY



Flatonia was originally situated one mile Southeast of its present site. The land where Flatonia now sits was originally the old Faires headright which was obtained from Mexico as a portion of S.F. Austin's original Texas colony. The land where the town is now was purchased from the Faires brothers by a syndicate composed of F.W. Flato, John Kline and John Lattimore. When the Southern Pacific Railroad began to build its tracks from Houston to San Antonio, Flatonia wanted to get involved in this expansion. The syndicate composed of Flato, Kline and Lattimore gave T.W. Pierce, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, a half interest in the land the railroad would have, through what was to become the town of Flatonia. The railroad was completed in early 1872. The residents and business owners that lived and worked in old Flatonia loaded up their things and moved to the new location by the railroad tracks. Flatonia became incorporated on November 10, 1875 with the first election being held on December 6, 1875. The original settlers in the Flatonia area were mainly Anglo-Saxon. After the Civil War, many Czechs and Germans were attracted to the fertile land and came here to settle. Now you will find that most of the native inhabitants are of German or Czech descent. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railway decided to build South from Waco, the citizens of Flatonia began an effort to get the railway to come through Flatonia and they were successful in this venture. In 1888 the railroad came through the town, thus making it the meeting place of the two main railway lines in Texas. This joining helped other communities to develop in the area such as Muldoon, Moulton, Shiner and Yoakum. During the first half of the twentieth century, Flatonia's economy was greatly impacted by the markets for cotton and cattle. In the 1960's, many of the cotton farms were converted to cattle ranching, thus making cotton a much smaller factor. Flatonia continues to have many farms and ranches in its service area. Tourism has more of an impact on many of the small businesses downtown now, as well as those businesses that are
located on Interstate 10.