Whiteflat in Motley County took its name from the tall white needlegrass that covered the flat prairie land. A post office for the rural settlement was established in 1890 at the request of W. R. Tilson. At its height, the community had four grocery stores, three service stations, three garages, two cafes, a hardware store, two gins, and three churches. A school opened in 1890 in a one-room schoolhouse built by volunteers, was replaced by a four-room school in 1908, and in 1922 a new two-story brick structure was erected that also served as a community gathering place. Dependent on agriculture and small family farms, the community began to decline during the Depression and dust bowl years of the 1930s. The Whiteflat School closed in 1946 when it was consolidated with Matador Schools, the local churches disbanded in the 1960s, the post office closed in 1966 after the death of the last postmaster, Ida Morris, and the last remaining retail business, a grocery store and service station, closed in 1968.