Welcome to historic Flomaton, Alabama! This cache will take you to the Flomaton Welcome Center and Railroad Museum. The Museum is open Monday-Thursday from 9:00am until 2:00pm. This cache is accessible at all hours, but if you stop by when the museum is open, please come on inside, have a look around and don't forget to sign the guestbook.
'Flomaton, Alabama is a rich town. Not that there is an overabundance of materially wealthy people here, but its heritage and the character of its citizens are worth more than money. From swampland and muddy streets and its modest beginnings as a tiny junction on the railroad to the modern four-lane thoroughfare named after one of its heroes, Flomaton forged itself into quite a community and a great place to live.'
- From the Flomaton Centenial Scrapbook by Jerry Simmons and the Flomaton Centennial Committee
As railroads were reconstructed following the Civil War, a junction of north-south and east-west lines was established along the Alabama-Florida border near the confluence of Big Escambia Creek and the Conecuh-Escambia River. A settlement followed which became known as Reuterville, for Major Reuter, the contractor who on April 9, 1872, drove the last spikes joining the different railroads. The community was also known as Pensacola Junction, or simply the Junction, as well as Whiting, after the railroad station master. Following several years of confusion due to the three names, the Post Office requested a permanent name from the citizens. The result was the first three letters of Florida and the last two letters of Alabama being joined to make the name Floma. To avoid confusion with Florala, the Post Office added "ton," meaning town, and the name became Flomaton. The Town of Flomaton was incorporated on May 18, 1908.
As an important rail junction, Flomaton has seen the famous and the infamous. President Theodore Roosevelt, 1905, President Woodrow Wilson, 1919, President Calvin Coolidge, 1930, and a campaigning future President Lyndon Johnson in 1960, all visited here. Outlaws Rube Barrow, Railroad Bill, John Wesley Hardin and Brown Bowen also came through at various times. During World War I, Flomaton resident, Corporal Sidney E. Manning, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism displayed while fighting in France. Named by General Pershing as one of his "Immortal Ten," Manning refused to accept a monument in his hometown while he lived, saying only "I did no more than those who came back and a lot less than those who did not." Over the years, Flomaton has benefited from its status as a rail center. It serves as a gateway to the Gulf Coast and continues to progress from development of its natural resources, namely timber, sand, gravel, oil and natural gas.
- Borrowed from Flomaton, Alabama Historic Marker located approximately 75-ft NNW of posted coordinates.
Congrats to cokefreak and honieypye for FTF!