Retirement
Flinn's political and business organization began to crumble in the late 1890s when a flap over the rigged bidding system came to a head with Edward Manning Bigelow, director of public works. By the 1902 elections reformers held sway and citizens voted down the machine. Magee himself had died in 1901 after a short illness.
Flinn withdrew from local politics, as a result, and retired to a country estate north of the city called Beechwood Farm. He became a gentleman farmer of Guernsey cattle, German police dogs, and Belgian hares.
During the winter months Flinn resided in Florida, where at St. Petersburg he died on February 19, 1924 at the age of 72. He is interred at Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh. According the Register of Wills of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, J.N. Mackrell, Flinn's personal property and real estate at his death exceeded $11 million.
Flinn is honored with several monuments throughout the city of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County segment of Pennsylvania State Route 8 is named the William Flinn Highway. His country estate is now a nature reserve, Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, operated by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Flinn's daughter Mary used some of her inheritance to build a country estate nearby Beechwood called Hartwood; today it is open to the public as a part of Hartwood Acres Park.
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