Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Flat Flat, TX

Flat is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in southeastern Coryell County, Texas, at the intersection of State Highway 36 and Farm Road 931, about ten miles southeast of Gatesville.

Flat's blunt name has a bureaucratic origin story — residents first chose 'Mesquite Flat' for the local terrain and vegetation, but the postal department rejected it, so they resubmitted the application as simply 'Flat' and got their post office in 1897.

In 1914 Flat was a modest farm center with a cotton gin, three general stores, and about 100 residents, according to the Handbook of Texas.

Flat's fate changed in 1942, when the Army established Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) and took over much of the town's surrounding cropland for the military base.

After the base arrived, Flat became home to soldiers and civilian workers from Fort Cavazos as well as commuters to Gatesville and Temple.

The Flat school was consolidated into the Gatesville Independent School District in 1963, and in the early 1980s residents converted the old schoolhouse into a community center.

Flat appeared as a census-designated place for the first time in the 2020 census, which counted 157 residents there.

Flat belongs to the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area and keeps its own ZIP code, 76526.