Haynes-Burns-Ewell Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane tells it. The Haynes-Burns-Ewell Building in Granbury, Hood County: a block of native stone with more lives than a barn cat. James C.

Haynes put this thing up. Quarried the stone, raised the walls, and served as postmaster right out of the same building from 1872 to 1874. Now that is a man who kept his commute short.

But 1878 rolls around and Haynes sells the edifice (that's the marker's word, edifice, and it earns it) to one Thomas A. Burns, who steps right into the postmaster role and holds it until 1883. Two owners, two postmasters, same stubborn stone walls.

Then the property changes hands again, and this time to a man with ink in his veins. Thomas T. Ewell, newspaperman, steps up and takes ownership.

Ewell wasn't just moving mail; he published an early history of Hood County. Think about that. The same building that sorted letters for years ended up housing the man who was sorting out the whole county's story.

After Ewell, the building kept right on working. Offices, stores, cafes: whatever Granbury needed, those walls held it. That went on decade after decade, all the way to 1975, when Dick and Sunny Allen stepped in, restored the whole structure, and gave it a new home as the Hood County Title Company.

Native stone, more than a century of use, and still standing. Some buildings just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

Early site of the Granbury post office, this native stone structure was erected by James C. Haynes, postmaster from 1872 to 1874. He sold the edifice in 1878 to Thomas A. Burns, who served as postmaster until 1883. The property was then purchased by Thomas T. Ewell, a newspaperman who published an early history of Hood County. Offices, stores, and cafes occupied the building until 1975, when it was restored by Dick and Sunny Allen for Hood County Title Company.