Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near North Flora Flora, IL

Flora is a city in Clay County in southeastern Illinois and, with its county seat located in nearby Louisville, it is the largest city in the county.

Flora was founded by Samuel White, who arrived in Clay County in 1852 and bought 85 acres of land from the State of Illinois; the original town was laid out, surveyed, and platted in February 1854.

Founder Samuel White donated the land for Flora's city park, today Library Park, as well as land for the first schoolhouse, the Baptist Church, streets, and alleys.

The 2020 census counted 4,803 people in Flora, down from the city's peak of 5,474 in 1940.

Flora had 2,053 households and 1,115 families in the 2020 census, and about 37% of its households were people living alone.

Flora's railroad heritage centers on the Flora B&O Depot, first built in 1872, destroyed by fire in 1916, and rebuilt as a three-story brick depot in 1916 and 1917; in the 1920s the railroad employed about half the wage earners in Flora, and the restored depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

In September 1960, Flora was named "Ford Town USA," and some 1,500 local vehicle owners were supplied with a brand-new Ford car or truck to drive for that week.

In 1987, Flora's mayor and city officials formed the "Barbed Wire Choir" and recorded a music video pleading with Governor Jim Thompson for a state prison, a stunt that landed them on MTV and Good Morning America, though Flora ultimately lost its prison bid.

Agriculture is Flora's main industry, and roughly 80 to 85 percent of the gently rolling countryside around the city is devoted to farming and livestock.

Flora's city motto is "Good things happen when good people work together."