| History
in a Pecan Shell The
tiny town of Flo has had nearly as many names as it does current residents. It
has been known as Kidd's Mill (after gristmill and sawmill owner Thaddeus
O. Kidd), Wheelock, Bethlehem, Oneta, New Hope, Oden(s),
and Midway. A post office named Kidd's Mill was in operation from 1855
through 1868.
A post office operated briefly as Odens in 1880 and another
as Oden from 1885 until 1891. Fed up with confusion, the postmaster settled the
matter by submitting the name of his dog for the new post office - which became
the town's final post office sometime after 1930.
The community's first
school was teaching children before the Civil War and in 1940 a rock school named
Lone Star was built. The rock school burned and was replaced by a brick building.
Since the mid 1980s children from Flo have been bussed to Oakwood.
In 1914 the population
of Flo was 60 and by the late 1960s it was down to 46. A few years later it had
declined to a mere 20 - the number still given today. |
