Flynt Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Flynt Building in Swisher County. Now settle in, because sometimes the best stories are the ones that just refuse to move. In 1909, somebody laid down red brick and set frosted glass above a wood awning, and what rose up on that spot was a building that would outlast just about everything else around it.

The first thing it housed was a confectionary. Now picture that. Frosted glass, a wood awning, and inside, an ornate marble counter and a back bar that belonged in a place with a little more ambition than most folks dared to show.

Whoever commissioned that marble counter was not thinking small. E. W.

Flynt was the first owner, born in 1888, and he would live to see 1968, which means he had a long time to watch that building hold its ground. And hold its ground it did. The exterior got remodeled in 1950, so it's had a little freshening up along the way, fair enough, but the bones never changed addresses.

That is the quiet miracle the marker is pointing at. Of all the retail firms that came and went in that town, the Flynt Building at its original location is the oldest still standing and still in business. No flood moved it.

No fire took it. No city planner rerouted it into memory. It just stayed.

Red brick, marble counter, original location, still there. Sometimes that is the whole story, and friend, that is enough of one.

What the marker says

Built 1909 of red brick with frosted glass above wood awning. First housed a confectionary. Has ornate marble counter and back bar. Exterior remodeled 1950. Is oldest retail firm in town at original location. First owner was E. W. Flynt (1888-1968). Recorded Texas Historical Landmark-1969