photo by Ed Shannon

One of the reminders of the past at the Freeborn County Museum and Historical Village is this sometimes-overlooked barber shop, which serves as a reminder of life in the Albert Lea area a century or more ago.

Exploring Albert Lea: Barber shop at Historical Village

Site is filled with hard-to-find items from yesteryear

Staff

Published Thursday, August 14, 2008

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of stories appearing weekly through the remainder of the summer. The stories highlight places in and around Albert Lea most people have seen or know about but rarely visit.

There are reminders galore of a combination barber shop and bath house from the era of a century ago in the Freeborn County Museum’s Historical Village next to the fairgrounds entrance on North Bridge Avenue.

This replica of a single-chair barber shop with bathtub annex is what the museum calls a reminder of “tonsorial splendor in the era of the straight-edge razor and strop.” It’s located on the north outside portion of the red exhibit hall in a line with smaller versions of a train depot waiting room and ticket office, village bank, photo studio and frontier jail.

Next to the barber shop’s entrance is a wooden pole featuring the symbol once used by these haircutting and shaving emporiums all over the nation. It’s round and has painted stripes in the colors of red, white and blue. In some situations these poles were later lighted from the inside and actually rotated to show those colors and attract attention.

Just inside this replica of an old barber shop are two historical photos of old Albert Lea barber shops. One shows the Andrew Nelson shop, with four barbers, once located below the First National Bank (now the Shoff building). The second photo features the Julius Peterson shop, with three barbers, once situated in the basement of the Skinner-Chamberlain Department Store (now the Brick Furniture building.)

The focal point of this version of a tonsorial parlor is a swiveling and reclining type Hoken barber chair, porcelain with nickel trim.

Pat Mulso, executive director of the museum, said records show this chair was donated to the historical society years ago by Peter Flick, who once lived on Green Avenue.

There are several wooden chairs for customers to sit on as they waited to have haircuts and shaves. While waiting, the men could discuss and even argue about current events, especially politics. A spittoon is on the floor for the convenience of the barber and his customers. In the corner is a wood-burning stove. Other items in this shop include a sink, a shelf for hair tonics and shampoos, a magazine and newspaper rack, plus a large mirror above the sink so customers could inspect the barber’s work. To emphasize this was a man’s place, there’s a deer’s head mounted on the wall. And to help indicate this was a business, a cash register also has a prominent place.

One of the oddest items in this shop, now sitting on a chair, is a framed poster showing 21 “modern hair & beard styles” from a century ago.

Just below the deer’s head and also mounted on the wall is a rare penny vending machine for Pulver Joy Mint Chewing Gum.

An even more rare item on the shelf below the mirror is a really faded jar with a label indicating it contained the For-A-Shave brand of shaving cream once made in Albert Lea as a part-time venture by a member of the Jepson family.

This shop’s bathtub annex has a steel tub with white finish and a black rim, a door for privacy, and racks for hanging clothing and fresh towels. Here in Albert Lea, a century ago this addition to a barber shop served a practical purpose. The barber shop had hot water ready to use. In most homes back then the water had to be heated in a tub placed on top of a wood- or coal-burning stove.

Mulso said this exhibit in the museum’s Historical Village was built in 1985. She added that the village is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, until the end of September.

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