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CHistory
History · Flora

Flora’s post office opened in 1883, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Flora was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Its Register listing is the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1962 on, and the census since 1890.

1883first post office
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Flora’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Flora began

When was Flora founded?

1883

The Flora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 228 in 18902020 census: 1,647143 years

How historic is Flora?

C

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Flora post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Flora’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Flora is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Flora’s overall grade.
Founding era1883, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19403.2% of homes (±2.5) · typical MS town 4.5% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 4.3 per 10,000 residents · typical MS town 71.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder

Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Flora’s 4.3 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Mississippi 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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Flora’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1910 and 1940, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Flora’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMississippi: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Flora, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001900192019401960198020002020747 in 1910Low: 509

Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1940, then grew 3-fold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Flora came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Flora.

Read it all →

Graves in Flora's cemetery date to 1821. A post office was established in 1883. That same year, Flora became a stop on the newly constructed Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. The railroad depot is now a museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1941, the Mississippi Ordnance Plant was constructed north of Flora to produce propellant and igniter charges for large-caliber guns during World War II. The site also had firing ranges for sub-machine guns, rifles, anti-aircraft guns, live grenades, and demolition explosives. A notable employee was science fiction writer Cyril M. Kornbluth.

ChaptersMississippi Ordnance PlantNational Bio and Agro-Defense Facility

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Flora, 1883 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Flora post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1917In the archiveMississippi
  5. 1938Born hereCecil Price is born here
  6. 1946Born herePaul "Wine" Jones is born here
  7. 1950Born hereE. C. Coleman is born here
  8. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1984Born hereParys Haralson is born here
  10. 21st century
  11. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 1,886
By decade

Flora, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s3 items
Mississippi1917MississippiMississippi1917MississippiMississippi1917Mississippi
1920s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Welcome To Flora Sign2025Welcome To Flora SignFlora Mississippi Water Tower2025Flora Mississippi Water TowerFloraMSWelcomeSign2016FloraMSWelcomeSignMain Street in Flora looking east2014Main Street in Flora looking eastFlora, Mississippi2014Flora, MississippiCotton bales near Flora Railroad Depot2014Cotton bales near Flora Railroad Depot
On the map

Flora on the map, 1962 to 1988

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Flora. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Flora on the 1962 USGS mapFlora on the 1988 USGS map1962Flora sheet · 1:62,500

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Mississippi
Retake this viewMississippi, 1917

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Flora’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Flora

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Railroad Vernacular1
All 1 listings
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad DepotBuilding · listed 1995

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

6 famous people were born in Flora

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

See all →
E
E. C. ColemanAmerican basketball player · b. 1950
Parys HaralsonAmerican football player · b. 1984
Cecil PriceAmerican police officer · b. 1938
P
Paul "Wine" JonesAmerican contemporary blues guitarist and singer · b. 1946
Belle KearneyAmerican politician · b. 1863
X
Xavian StapletonAmerican basketball player · b. 1996

Questions about Flora’s history

What year was Flora founded?

The Flora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Flora rank for history?

Flora is more historic than 29% 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 Flora?

One place: the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot (listed 1995).

How old are the homes in Flora?

3% of Flora’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1973.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.