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Bill Smith II / Houston Chronicle
Bob Shepard, left, talks to barber Leon Apostolo
as he cuts
Al Waldo's hair at Shepard's Barber Shop in downtown Conroe.
For nearly a century, generations of Montgomery County men have walked
under a striped metal awning and past a rotating barber's pole to take a
seat in well-worn green vinyl chairs to get a haircut
Even a young Elvis Presley, who had come to town to perform at the old
Davy Crockett High School in Conroe, is widely believed to have gotten
his hair clipped at this barber shop a block from the county courthouse
in 1955. |
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"I've come here since I was a kid," said customer Bill Coleman. "This
shop was also the first to give my own kid a haircut, and he's now 35." |
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Coleman said the shop reminds him of days when the pace was slower,
everybody knew everybody else and parents didn't worry as much about
what their kids were doing. |
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The red brick building on Simonton Street that houses what's now called
Shepard's Barber Shop was erected a century ago, three years after a
raging fire destroyed most of downtown Conroe's then-wooden buildings.
Except for an initial eight-year stint as a shoe leather shop, the
building has been occupied by barbers. Those 92 years of haircuts make
it the longest continuously operating barbershop in the county, said
Larry Foerster, chairman of the county's historical commission. |
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It is also the first site that is expected to get a newly established
historical marker bestowed by the fast-growing county. Each marker will
be fashioned from cast aluminum with the society's emblem featuring the
Texas Lone Star flag - a Montgomery County doctor made the hand drawing
of the flag that was adopted in 1838. |
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"The county marker is meant to complement but not replace the state
markers. Some sites could qualify for both," Foerster said. |
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Montgomery County commissioners, like their counterparts in Harris and
Walker Counties, recently approved the creation of a county marker
program. Foerster says county markers are needed because the Texas
Historical Commission has experienced budget cutbacks that can delay the
issuing of new markers. Also, he said a county maker can recognize a
site that has local interest but that might not rise to the level of
state significance. |
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Texas Historical Commission spokesman Chris Florance said the staff
overseeing the state's marker program was slashed in 2011 from three
employees to one but was raised back to two last year. |
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He said the number of markers approved each year has had to be limited,
but once accepted, the markers are processed within a few months. |
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"We have had to prioritize and make decisions based on prominence and
importance," he explained. |
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The 180-marker state limit was not reached last year, although 13
proposals were rejected for not meeting the criteria. |
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In order to qualify for a state marker, he said, buildings must be at
least 50 years old and "demonstrate historical and architectural
integrity and significance." |
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"Sites like the Barber Shop might not make the state cut if somebody
like Sam Houston hadn't gotten his hair cut there," said Sharon Russell,
who heads the county's marker program. |
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But she said the county considers other criteria such as the fact that
the barbershop in Conroe, some 40 miles north of downtown Houston, has
long been a "popular gathering place." |
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The barbers, some of whom have clipped hair at the shop since their
teens, bragged that they usually know more about what's happening around
the county than anybody else. But barber Steve Hamilton said all abide
by the code that what's said in the shop stays in the shop. |
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One photograph tacked to the wall depicts four generations of one family
seated in the green chairs and ready for haircuts. And they're not
alone. |
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Billy Smith II photos Houston Chronicle
Barbers Steve Hamilton, left and Larry Skinner cut the
hair
of customers Jackson Nance and Mike Nance at
Shepard's Barber Shop in early December.
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Not much has changed in the shop over the years, from the walls that are
covered with historic black-and-white photos and the moose antlers to
the shoeshine stand in the corner and the running checkerboard game in
the waiting area. The shop is also among the only places where a
customer still can get a close shave with a straight razor and afterward
get wrapped in a steam towel. |
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Bob Shepard, who owns the building and began cutting hair there a
half-century ago, says that about the only thing that has changed is the
price of a haircut. It used to be a buck when he started. Now it's $16. |
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Barbers there can cut any style the customer wants, from a flat top to
the traditional men's haircut.
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"There's just a few things that we won't do. We don't do hair coloring
or give permanents. This is a barbershop - a man's shop," said Leon
Apostolo, a 53-year-old barber who began cutting hair there as a
teenager.
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Shepard's Barber Shop is the oldest
continuous operating
barbershop in Montgomery County. The building built in 1914
in owned by Bob Shepard. |
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He has had no notions of turning the shop into a salon or spa since he
purchased the haircutting business there last year from Shepard. |
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Shepard, who soon will turn 80, began cutting hair at the shop when he
was in his 20s and became the fourth barber to own the building 14 years
ago. He was happy to sell the business to his longtime friend last year
so he could care for his ailing wife of 60 years. She died in June. |
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Still, Shepherd is afraid that someone could come along when he dies and
demolish the whole building. So he's been pushing and crusading for a
historical maker that he believes could preserve the building's legacy. |
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"Once a marker is put on a building, nobody can tear that building down
without the approval of the county or state who issued that marker,"
said Russell, who oversees the county's markers. |
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The county will be reviewing the shop's application, and if everything
is in order, a marker could be posted there in weeks. |
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Conroe Courier |
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December 18, 2014 |
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