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History · Flat

Flat’s post office opened in 1912

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1920.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Lomen Bros., commercial photographers · Public domain
Quick answers

How Flat began

When was Flat founded?

1912

The Flat post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Iditarod (1910), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 158 in 1920114 years
Founding year: the first Flat post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Flat’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Flat are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Flat, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Flat’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Flat’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Flat’s post office has been open since 1912. Another post office, Iditarod, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Iditarod
1910–1929
Flat
1912–today
19101970today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DiscoveryIditarodKhadilotden

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Flat came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Flat.

Read it all →

Prospectors John Beaton and W.A. Dikeman discovered gold on Otter Creek on December 25, 1908. News of the discovery spread slowly, but some miners arrived in the summer of 1909 and built a small camp they called Flat City. More gold was discovered on nearby Flat Creek and more miners arrived in 1910. Beaton, Peter Miscovich, Lars Ostnes, and David Strandberg were prominent early arrivals who mined successfully long after the initial boomtown faded. By 1914, the community had grown to about 6,000 people, complete with an elementary school, a telephone system, two stores, a hotel, restaurant, pool hall, laundry and jail. However, a fire in 1924 caused the majority of the town to burn. By 1930, the population had declined to 124. No plat was filed for Flat, and the town site rests on mining claims, so the existence of Flat may contravene the law, but the U.S. Post Office acknowledged…

ChaptersWiley Post 1933 airplane crash

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Flat, 1910 to 1954

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Iditarod post office opens
  3. 1912Post officeThe Flat post office opens
  4. 1916Born hereGeorge J. Miscovich is born here
  5. 1918Born hereJohn Miscovich is born here
  6. 1929Post officeThe Iditarod post office closes
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Flat on the map in 1954

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Flat.

Flat on the 1954 USGS map1954Iditarod B-5 sheet · 1:63,360

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Flat.

People over time

Flat, census by census

010019201940196019802000Peak: 158

Between 4 and 158 people in every census since 1920.

6 censuses, 1920–2000.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Flat’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Flat

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
J
John MiscovichAmerican inventor and engineer · b. 1918
G
George J. MiscovichAmerican politician · b. 1916

Questions about Flat’s history

What year was Flat founded?

The Flat post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.