Our Past Is Present September 27, 2018

September 27, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Yesterday our story was about blacksmith shops.  Well, today we are remembering the old barber shops.  Near the blacksmith shop display in our “Main Street” Gallery, we also have some items from barbershops.  There is a large picture of men getting a haircut or shave, a barber’s pole and a shoeshine chair.  Your host remembers getting a haircut in a place similar to the one in the picture during the 1950s and 60s.  It always smelled so good in there, as I recall. 

            Barber shops have been a part of this town’s business community for a long time.  In the first Junction City Business Directory, published in 1887, four barber shops were listed on Washington Street.  One was the shop owned by A. Johnson, barber and hairdresser, who wished to “particularly call attention to facilities for ladies and children’s hair dressing and shampooing.” 

            By 1905, eight barber shops were listed in the city directory and several advertised the additional hygienic amenity of…. a “bath room”. The “Junction City Sentinel” announced the opening of the first such operation here:  “George Lisk, the enterprising laundryman, has lately purchased several porcelain-lined bathtubs, which he will place in the building two doors from the Miller’s Hardware Store on Washington Street, next week.  Mr. Lisk has employed first-class and experienced attendants and a bath from a large bathing tub to a shampoo and shower bath with both hot and cold water can be indulged in.”

            In 1909, the Kansas State Legislature passed laws intended to assure that diseases were not transmitted through either barbers shops or public baths.  The regulations ranged from basic sanitation guidelines for bathtubs and barber equipment to banning use of either bathrooms or barber shops as sleeping rooms.  It went into great detail in giving instructions about sterilizing equipment used in the establishments.  They were to be either immersed in boiling water or in alcohol of at least 60 percent strength or in formaldehyde gas or solution after each use. 

            Again, we encourage you to stop by our Museum and see both our barbershop and blacksmith displays in the “Main Street” Gallery Tuesday through Sundays between the hours of 1 and 4.  Our Museum is located at the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets.  Come and see why we say “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.