Editing Flatonia, Texas (section)

==History==
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File:Flatonia, Texas in 1881.jpg|Flatonia in 1881
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Established on April 8, 1874, on land that the [[Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway]] acquired from William Alexander Faries (the [[family name]] is also spelled "Ferris" and "Farris"), the community was named after F. W. Flato,<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=26431| title= Profile for Flatonia, Texas, TX| publisher= ePodunk| access-date= October 19, 2012| archive-date= July 17, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180717071218/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=26431| url-status= dead}}</ref> a local merchant and one of the first settlers, of whom most were [[English Americans|Anglo American]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n125 126]}}</ref> Residents placed their homes in the former Flatonia settlement, one mile southeast of the current Flatonia, and in the community of Oso, {{convert|3|mi|0}} northeast, on wagons and moved to the new location. The post office, established in the former Flatonia in 1870, moved to the new Flatonia with the same name. Flatonia was incorporated on November 10, 1875, and held its first election on December 6 of that year. In 1878, the town had 800 residents and an economy dependent on cattle and cotton.<ref name="Handbook"/>

The location of the railway and inexpensive real estate led to the arrival of [[Arab]], [[Bohemia]]n, [[Germany|German]], [[Greece|Greek]], and [[Italy|Italian]] immigrants in several waves. The north-south line of the [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] branch of the [[San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway]] opened in the mid-1880s, leading to new settlements of [[Muldoon, Texas|Muldoon]] and [[Moulton, Texas|Moulton]]. Competition from the settlements, respectively north and south of Flatonia, and an agricultural depression damaged Flatonia's economy. By 1900, Flatonia experienced a significant decline in population.<ref name="Handbook"/>

During the first half of the 20th century, Flatonia's prospects increased and decreased according to the national economy and cattle and cotton markets. In 1950 Flatonia had 1,024 residents, 50 businesses, and a wide farm and ranch service area. By the 1960s, cotton no longer was a substantial aspect of the area economy; therefore many area farms began to ranch cattle. During that time the population was between 1,000 and 1,500. [[Interstate 10 in Texas|Interstate 10]] (I-10) opened in the 1970s, leading many tourist businesses to move from [[U.S. Route 90 in Texas|U.S. Highway 90]] to I-10, one mile north of Highway 90. In 1985, Flatonia had 69 businesses. In 1990, Flatonia had 1,295 residents.<ref name="Handbook"/>