Most of Flomaton was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Commercial Hotel-Hart Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1987 on and the census since 1910.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1870.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Flomaton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Flomaton is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Flomaton’s overall grade.
Alabama towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Alabama town has 2.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Flomaton’s 6.5 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 points). Two sources give 1908.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Flomaton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Flomaton was incorporated as a town in 1908, having been settled on a railway junction in 1869. The site was a junction of different lines of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Into the 1960s the L&N ran trains south to the beach resort city of Pensacola, Florida. The L&N main line was a conduit for trains to New York City, Cincinnati, Atlanta and New Orleans. The name "Flomaton" was chosen as a combination of "Florida", "Alabama" and "town", reflecting the town's location on the border between the two states. In the early twentieth century, the town's economy was driven by the timber industry and the town's location at an important railway junction.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1908, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Flomaton’s post office opened in 1870, and the census of 1910 counted 559 people here.
How does Flomaton rank for history?
Flomaton is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Flomaton?
One place: the Commercial Hotel-Hart Hotel (listed 1986).
How old are the homes in Flomaton?
8% of Flomaton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1978.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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