BARBERS REMEMBERED

Straight Razor Display


A display to honor the local barbers throughout the history of our established community. It is a collection of straight-edge razors once used to shave the beards of pioneers as well as the more modern day gentlemen who preferred to go to a barber than to do it themselves.


The first two barbers on record, found in Hilda Madsen Longdorf’s History of Mt. Pleasant are J. C. Barton and C. E. Hampshire. Both of these barbers lost their barber shops in a devastating fire in the early morning of July 24th 1898. Many other businesses on the north side of Main Street were a total loss as well.


Peter Hafen has been working on this collection for some time. He has been able to collect straight-edge razors from the families of known barbers of our community. For those barbers that he was not able to find a razor, he has substituted from his own collection, as this is a hobby for him.


Peter is a licensed barber and has given many gentlemen a clean shave. He once worked in the Hotel Utah Barbershop. He also owned and operated his own shop in Provo, called Yogi’s. After moving back to Mt. Pleasant, he cut hair at night in his barbershop on State Street.


The barbers remembered in this collection are: J.C. Barton, C.E. Hampshire, James Walker, Bill Rowe, Slim Borg, Lorraine Beck, Keith Allred, Wayne Stansfield, Deb Miller, Bardell Beck, Bernard Burnside, Jim Fillis, Dewey Scow, Alt Brotherson, Orval Simons, and Peter Hafen.


It is hoped that this collection will be viewed by many generations in the years to come. It marks a very important trade practiced here in Mt. Pleasant, and brings back memories of those days when the local barbershop was not only where locals went to get a haircut or shave, but also to catch up on the news of the day.