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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.
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