Tag Archives: Georgia Barber & Beauty Shops

Dismuke Storehouse, 1899, Americus

Built as a grocery store in 1899 by Joseph H. Dismuke, this structure also served his family as a residence. Dismuke was the nephew of Elbert Head, a well-to-do black farmer and philanthropist, from whom he initially acquired the property. It was sold to Janice Coleman in 1919 and briefly owned by W. C. Flatt before being purchased in 1922 by John Minyard, who added a cafe. The cafe was so popular, especially on weekends and special occasions when it sold alcohol, that the neighborhood came to be known as”Minyard’s Bottom”. The Minyards got out of the business by the 1950s and Earnest Wilson, then his son Clyde, ran a barbershop here until Clyde’s illness in 1978.

These memories come from Karl Wilson’s (Clyde’s son) “History of the Storehouse”, written in 1985.

[The storehouse was originally located about 20 feet closer to the corner of the lot but was moved during infrastructural modifications in the neighborhood in 1987].

National Register of Historic Places

Charlie Storey’s Barber Shop, Roopville

Charles (Tolly) Logan writes: [This] was formerly a barber shop. I grew up in Roopville and always got my hair cut there. Charlie Storey was the owner and barber and was still there when I graduated from high school in 1965. It presently serves as a precinct for the Carroll County Sheriff.

Mr. Hair Barber Lounge, Fitzgerald

This is a landmark of the African-American community in Fitzgerald. I believe it was a neighborhood grocery store before it became Mr. Hair.

Barber Shop, Cedar Springs

This is quite small, even for a shotgun house, so I initially thought it might be an old office building, but there’s another one on the property [which I was unable to photograph due to vegetation] which led me to believe it might be a tenant house. Pete Tyson clarifies: That was the first aid/hospital of Cedar Springs that Mrs. S. A. Wright told me about. It was moved there in the 1960’s from the little dirt road behind Johnny Golden’s store. It was a barber shop (drinking spot) that was run by Bill Adams and he later moved his shop to Columbia, Alabama, to the old Orr’s Gun Shop on Highway 52. The other was a beauty shop run by May Megahee.

William C. Evans notes: The building was moved twice. Originally it was a dispensary and band room at the Cedar Springs Academy. The first time it was moved, it was used as a post office. It was later moved again to its current location and was used as a barbershop. Dr. Crozier’s house was the medical facility of Cedar Springs.

Fickling Lodge No. 129, 1920, Butler

Note the ghost sign for the City Barber Shop on the right of the building.

Butler Downtown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Barber Shop, Alma

This is an excellent example of an old time barber shop. I got my first haircut in a place like this.

Sharie D. Music writes: My dad is 80 yrs old. After the military, he graduated Barber School, and planted his roots there on that corner, in that Barber shop in Alma, Ga., long before I was even born. That very chair was designed with an ashtray in the arm of it, if that tells you how old it is. I grew up spinning circles in that chair. I’ve seen a lot of people sit in that chair. It’s kinda sad when I think about it, but a blessing all the same., To see a man bringing his son in for his first hair cut, then years later that son brings his dad in for his last hair cut. My dad developed a friendship with his customers over the years, as they would come in and talk to him about their lives and problems they had had, sharing happy moments too. He would give them advice sometimes, and other times he would just listen. And he has watched over the years as so many of those friends have since passed on. He still works there today, I’m sure going to miss that chair when it’s my dad’s turn to go home. That used to be one busy place… I’d sit in the office as a kid, and try to ignore all the gossip, it would be a room full of men , sitting around talking politics, telling dirty jokes, and bragging on how big that fish was that they caught over the weekend. That chair may not look old, but I promise, that chair is one chair that I’d give anything for it to be 1980 again , and me be 5 yrs old chewing my Barbershop Gum, and spinning in circles as fast as I could go.

Precinct House, Holt

Besides a precinct house, this was also used as a barber shop. Katherine Griffin recalls: “My Dad, Ed Grantham, used this building to barber for the area farmers on Saturdays until 9: or 10: pm”. These old precinct houses are getting harder to find. I’ve photographed this one many times over the years. Tracie Lott Thacker shared my favorite memory of this place: “My first ever vote was cast right here. I walked down the dirt road and my grandfather Cleon Lott and Aunt Karen Lott were working here that day.

Toby’s Motel & Grill, Alapaha

Built to lure travelers off busy US Highway 82 (likely in the 1940s), Toby Powell’s Motel & Grill is still relatively intact. The eclectic architecture of the office/restaurant at first appears to be a crumbling facade, but it was built that way! For a time after the motel closed, it served as a grocery store and Virginia’s Beauty Lounge.

Below is a contemporary postcard view from the 1950s.

Service Station, Leslie

John A. Battle writes: This old service station in Leslie was owned by my sister and her husband, Fred (Buddy) Bass and Joanne Battle Bass, and operated as a dry cleaners and barber shop.