FLAGG, TEXAS. Flagg, at the intersection of Farm roads 1055 and 1524 in southwestern Castro County, was originally part of the 52,000-acre 7-UP Ranch established in 1884 by James W. Carter,^qv the county's first resident. C. T. Herring bought the property in 1904 and named it Flag (Flagg) Ranch because the layout of the land resembled a flag. In 1925 Herring decided to subdivide the land into 160-acre blocks and sell them as farms. He and his associates erected a two-story hotel, in which a post office was opened, and laid out a townsite. Interested buyers came, some from great distances, to select their allotments. By the end of the year Flagg had two stores, a land office, a blacksmith shop, a lumberyard, and a one-room school that was also used as a union church. The Flagg school district was formally organized in 1929, and a four-room brick building was completed the following year. However, this small agricultural retail center on Running Water Draw was short-lived, mainly because of improved highways and the proximity to Dimmitt. In the early 1930s its population was about ten. In 1945 the school district was consolidated with the Dimmitt schools, and the post office was discontinued two years later. Such local clubs as the Ladies' Aid Society likewise merged with those of Dimmitt. Although the original townsite has been abandoned, a fertilizer company, a grain elevator, and a cotton gin are located two miles west on Farm Road 1055. From 1940 to 1990 Flagg recorded a population of fifty. In 2000 the population was thirty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Castro County Historical Commission, Castro County, 1891-1981 (Dallas: Taylor, 1981). Fred Tarpley, 1001 Texas Place Names (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980).

H. Allen Anderson