Flora, IL

Flora is a Clay County city in the heart of Southern Illinois. The town was laid out in 1854, and several railroads drove its early growth: lines reaching from Cincinnati to East St. Louis crossed with routes from Shawneetown toward Beardstown. Rail service still supports Flora's industrial economy, while agriculture remains the city's main industry. The 2020 census counted 4,803 residents.

ATTRNyttend / Public domain

Flora's oddest civic chapter came in 1960, when Ford Motor Company chose it for a national promotion and designated the city Fordtown, USA. Every car owner in town received a week's use of a new Ford vehicle, turning a small Illinois city into a temporary national spectacle. The Clay County Jail offers a more permanent local institution today. Listed on the National Register in 1998, the former jail now houses the Clay County Historical Museum, with its old cells still in place. Flora's present-day map joins freight rail, farm country, industry, and a courthouse-era museum in one city center.