This is Central Barber Shop on Spring Street in Searcy in the 1930s. Coy Benton of Searcy, who owns the original copy of this photo, identified the barbers from left as C.W. Harbour, D.A. West and C.C. Marsh. The identities of the two black men at right, two men reclining in the chairs and the woman in the center chair are unknown.

By PERRIN JONES

Searcy Daily Citizen, March 26, 2006

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y barber and I usually work out all the problems of the world as she does my haircut. Shirley Nipper is my barber and she lives off Highway 36 near Smyrna Church in Searcy Valley. I’ve told her that most of both sides of my family came from Center Hill and my great-great-grandmother Bruce is buried behind the Smyrna Church. During my last visit to her barbershop my mind was taken back to downtown Searcy in the late ‘30s and ‘40s as I was growing up.

There was Central Barber Shop on Spring Street in one of the buildings restored by First Security Bank. I got my first haircut there and continued to go in every couple of weeks until I went to college. Claude Marsh and Ode West operated two of the chairs all those years with a frequent change in the center chair.

It was a big open room with chairs along two sides of it. Some of the older customers had their own personal shaving mugs, beautifully decorated things with their names on them in a cabinet. There was seldom any time of the day when the place wasn’t about full. Everyone discussed the state of the world, and most of us left with all the local gossip and felt, in some way, we were really involved in what was going on. And downtown on Saturdays was something to see. The farmers all gathered on the foundation of the Robbins-Sanford Mercantile Company, also on Spring Street, and discussed the state of the world and the condition of the crops. The sidewalks were crowded until at least 9 p.m. on a Saturday. Headlee’s Drug Store had curb service then just across the street from Robertson’s Drug Store, which also had curb service, and dating couples parked their cars near an overhang with a radio mounted on it playing the songs of the day.

There were two hospitals then. Harrison Hospital was located on the northeast corner of Spring Park and Mrs. Wakenight’s Sanatorium was on West Woodruff where Porter Rodgers Hospital later grew up. Doctors’ offices weren’t at the hospitals or in clinics. Dr. Martin Hawkins had an office upstairs at the back of the building on the corner of Arch and Spring. Dr. Porter Rodgers’ office was in his home where First Baptist Church is now. Dr. A.J. Harrison, under whom both of them served, was at his hospital. Dr. A.H. Hudgins’ office was also in his home on East Race Avenue. My great-grandfather had his office in his home on East Center until his death in 1925.

Off and on, Dr. Sloan Sanford operated his office by appointment on the third floor of Robbins-Sanford. He was among the first eye, ear, nose and throat specialists in the country. You had to climb up an iron outdoor staircase to get there. Across the street was another iron staircase that led to Dr. Sam Allbright’s office. All doctors made house calls, and few people could afford to go to the hospitals. It was a different time but it’s the way things were then. vvv