W. B. "Bill" Flippin and Bill Jenkins were noted preachers at the Christian Church in Flippin Barrens during the mid-1800s. They were considered "nesters of the Christian Church" (History of the Ozarks, W. B. Jones). In the Church History of the Ozarks by Earl Sechlet, it is said of W. B. Flippin that "no other man in the north part of Arkansas did as much work preaching the gospel, baptizing people and establishing churches." Meetings were held in homes, brush arbors and schools until 1903 when the Union Church was built where the First Baptist Church stands today. It was use by all congregations until the 1920s.
       The construction of the Christian Church took place in 1925 in Flippin, a cobblestone building with most of the work and materials being donated.
       An account by the late E. B. Wood (M. C. History by Earl Berry indicates the Flippin Baptist/Rehoboth Church was founded in 1875 under the leadership of Elder Stephenson who preached at the home of John M. Hurst about two mile south of Flippin for about two years. A building for this church was erected in 1906.
       Other churches were formed after the 1900s, and approximately six churches complete today's register.
       The Flippin Cemetery is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Marion County. It is located one-half mile north of Flippin, near the airport. It was named for the Flippin Family who settled here in 1830. Members of their family were among some of the first buried there. The original plot was donated by Thomas H. Flippin, and the south side was later donated by the Wood family.
       The Mountain View Cemetery is about half way between Yellville and Flippin on Fallen Ash Road. The earliest marker there is of Fletcher C. Noe 1828-1878.

       During the Civil War, life in the Barrens is depicted as being cruel and bitter. Mary Jenkins relates some accounts during this time.
       One family who lived on Lee's Mountain near a tanning yard could barely exist, Mr.s Jenkins said. Some of the children starved to death. "This is horrible to think of and repeat" she said, "but these children would cut off small bits from the dry hides and either scorch them on coals of fire or chew and swallow them raw."
       Many lost their lived during the war, and not every casualty was a result of the fighting. Jim Brown, a single man who traveled from Kentucky with the Jenkins family and was living with them, was subject to epileptic seizures. One morning bushwhackers killed Derl Wood who lived on Fallen Ash Road, the gun reports and screams of Sally Wood could be heard by Mrs. Jenkins.
       After the band of killers terrorized part of the neighborhood, they arrived at Jim Jackson's home, about a quarter of a mile from the Jenkins' house, and began to annoy and chase two Negro boys. Jim Brown went running out of the house to investigate when the bad of men saw him, ran him down, and shot him to death.
       Later that evening, after the bushwhackers had retired, the few remaining men in the neighborhood and several friends gathered to post guards and bury Brown and Wood in the Flippin graveyard.

       Flippin Barrens barely lived into the Twentieth Century. Lee Hayes moved his store to the railroad site, and soon other businesses were established. The Marion County Town Company purchased 20 acres and platted streets and lots but, shortly thereafter, went out of business.
       But this budding community was not to be denied. F. G. Huddleston established a general store; a well was drilled in the middle of Main Street, equipped with hand pump; a lumber business was opened by Noland Carroll who later owned a general store; a cafe, operated by Mrs. Trimble, served homemade food tot he public; Melliot Daffron opened a hotel that catered to incoming railroad passengers and other travelers; the town bespoke its own physician; several blacksmith shops and a livery barn had thriving businesses; and a traveling dentist and eye doctor made regular visits by train and operated out of the hotel.
       In 1921 the town of Flippin was incorporated and James M. Keeter was elected as its first Mayor.
       Automobiles began appearing in the county and it wasn't long before enterprising Cleto Parnell opened a service station and repair shop.
       One prominent figure from the early days of Flippin was "Uncle George" Billings. He lived at Oakland before coming to Flippin, and it was his task to carry the mail from the depot to the post office in a push cart. Uncle George was awarded the "Carnegie Medal" and reqard for saving the life of Virginia Hayes, a child who was trapped in a stalled car that was in the path of an oncoming train. Billings was injured while making the rescue, and walked with a limp the remainder of his life.
       A canning factory was put into operation just west of Girard Street and, later, Seth Hurst opened the Hurt Canning Plant.
       A store opened by J. N. Griffin sold everything from candy to coffins. Carl Flippin was available for those who could afford to buy read made caskets, his wife Nellie Pangle Flippin usually made the burial clothes because she was an exceptional seamstress.
       Most of the buildings described earlier were burned in the late 1920's, including the hotel and meat market on the west side of the street. Another fire several years later destroyed the buildings on the other side of the street because the "bucket brigade" was not forceful enough to stop the flames.

       The 1930's and 1940's effected Flippin as it did the rest of the United States. When the war began in the '40's the town was stripped of many able-bodied young men. Several of them lost their lives including James Clart, Burt and Glen McCracken, Donald Padgett, and Claude Garrigus.
       Farmers could be deferred from service in World War II if they met the requirements of the draft board. There was also a rationing board during the war that distributed stamps for coffee, sugar, salt and others things such as gas, shoes, and tires. The rationing board was located in Flippin and every family, depending on size, received a certain amount of stamps.
       Wince Hurst said he used to cut cedar logs for Elias Huddleton for ten cents an hour and worked ten hours a day in 1934.
       During this era Callison's Drug and Sundries Store opened but no pharmacist was in attendance; the doctor still carried medicine with him and mixed up what he needed. Callison's sold a five-cent ice cream cone as well as patent medicines, clothing and groceries.
       Also in the '40's, all cotton gins ceased to operate within the county, and cotton as a money crop was only a memory.
       H. F. Wood, better known as "Squire" was a familiar figure around Flippin. He served as Justice f the Peace for more than fifty years, during which time he performed many marriage ceremonies and often held court.
       In 1940 Flippin boasted a movie theatre called the WNC, built by W. N. Christian. The children nicknamed it the "We Need Credit" Theater, and it played to audiences for about ten years with Karl Marshall as projectionist.
       Flippin Airport was built in 1947 after the war; the Flippin Ball Park Association was organized in the late 1940's; and Flippins first bank, operated by "Jockie" Doshier, went broke prior tot he depression.

       In 1945, the U. S. Government supplied the funds and hired the contract labor to establish a quarry on Lee's Mountain where a conveyor belt form the mountain to a site at Bull Shoals was to be erected for the construction of Bull Shoals Dam. They condemned 60 acres of farmland on the mountain to set up the conveyor belt that was used to haul crushed rock to the dam site.
       First, a road had to be cut out of the mountain. Thurman Hurst and Floyd Kirklnad were "shooters" and drilled holes and set the charges that blew the rock away. After the road was completed, the blasting crews moved in to clean up rock waste products and expose the "good rock" underneath.
       Once the rock was exposed, blasting crews meticulously planted deep charges strategically placed to implode the mountain and create a quarry. Once the charges were set, the crews moved to the other side of Flippin before the charge went off, but all that was seen was a small cloud of white smoke when the mountain bluff collapsed.
       The belt that transported the crushed rock was four feet wide and seven miles long. A hammer mill crusher reduced the size of the rock before it was placed on the belt. When the rock reached its destination at the dam sites, it was then finely crushed and divided into sand product, gravel and assorted sized rock.
       Floyd Maples was foreman of the belt during its entire operation in Flippin. The belt ran three shifts, 24 hours a day, for approximately six years.
       According to Wince Hurst, anytime there was something dangerous to do at either Lee's Mountain or the dam site, he and Odale Davenport were called in to do it.