Flatwoods

History

The area now known as Flatwoods was originally named "Advance": Advance Methodist Church formed a Sunday school beginning in 1860. The name was later changed to "Cheap", after John Cheap, a blind clergyman. The original farming community returned to the name of "Advance" when a post office was established in 1918. In 1938, the post office was renamed "Flatwoods", and the town was incorporated the same year under that name. Flatwoods is named for the area's unique topography, a belt of flat wooded land in the ancient Teays River valley on an elevation of approximately or higher, just south of and higher than the Ohio River valley. The availability of flat level land and low tax rates made Flatwoods a local hot spot of new construction in the 1950s and 1960s, when many upper-middle-class tract housing developments were built and quickly inhabited. A main contributor to Flatwoods' growth was that nearby Ashland had developed much of its available land prior to 1960, with little new construction possible within its corporation limits.

Geography

Flatwoods is located in eastern Greenup County, between Raceland to the northwest and Russell to the southeast. U.S. Route 23 (Seaton Avenue) forms the northeast border of Flatwoods; the highway leads southeast to Ashland and northwest to Greenup. According to the United States Census Bureau, Flatwoods has a total area of , all land. |date=March 2011}}

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Russell High School
  High · Russell · 668 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Russell Middle School
  Middle · Russell · 511 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• Russell Primary School
  Elementary · Russell · 486 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Russell-McDowell Intermediate School
  Elementary · Flatwoods · 456 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Raceland-Worthington Middle School
  Middle · Raceland · 447 students · 21.3:1 ratio
• Campbell Elementary School
  Elementary · Raceland · 332 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Raceland-Worthington High School
  High · Raceland · 307 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Wurtland Middle School
  Middle · Wurtland · 250 students · 11.4:1 ratio