Promise City's Woman Barber

It is not unusual in this day and age for men to go to a hair stylist who is a woman, or for a woman to go to a hair stylist who is a man. That was not the case back in the 1920's, 30's, and 40's, but Promise City, Iowa had a barber who was a woman. Read her story from March 25, 1948 in the Centerville, Iowa Daily Iowegian:

Promise City's Only Barber Is Mrs. Myrtle Wolfinger

Like Topsy Her Trade Just Grew

Promise City's only barber is a very nice lady. She is Mrs. Myrtle Wolfinger and she has been taking care of the haircuts in this eastern Wayne county city for more than two decades.

It all began, according to Mrs. Wolfinger, when ladies first stated considering "bobbed hair".

"They just couldn't go into a men's shop to have their hair cut," she said, (although later it became a more or less common custom). At any rate the ladies of Promise City, who wanted some barbering done, found that Mrs. Wolfinger seemed to have a particular knack for such things. Thus it was that she started helping some of her friends with their "bobbing" problems.

"At that time," said Mrs. Wolfinger, "I didn't have any idea of operating the only barber shop in Promise City, but that is what it lead to."

The time soon came when some of the men and young men of the city sought to have Mrs. Wolfinger extend her trade to cutting men's hair as well as that of the women. With some hesitancy, Mrs. Wolfinger did establish a regular barber shop and she is now known for and wide for her ability.

Just for instance one Centerville man will let no one else cut his hair and makes the trip to Promise City regularly. Mrs. Wolfinger lists among her regular customers people from Confidence, Corydon, Seymour, Clio, Allerton, and other points. She has some truckers who make it a point to stop for their tonsorial work although they may live as far away as Des Moines.

The barber shop is in the basement of the Wolfinger home and the barber chair is comfortably close to the furnace.

It is simple but adequate.

Mrs. Wolfinger does not shave anyone except to shave their necks. She believes that her customers can take care of their own shaving problems but few can do anything about cutting their own hair.

Mrs. Wolfinger will tell you that no two heads of hair are alike. She takes the woman's point of view. It isn't just a matter of cutting someone's hair and cutting it about the same as all the rest are cut. Mrs. Wolfinger studies each particular head and cuts the hair to suit the style of the head and hair.

"Now for instance," she says, "no one on earth can put your hat on for you satisfactorily. Really no one else can comb your hair. So far as barbering goes each person is very different from others and has to be considered that way."

And here is another little item. Haircuts at the Wolfinger barber shop are 25 cents each, believe it or not!

"Everybody says they should be higher," she says, "the state inspector really has a fit about the prices. But I get a large number of tips and I've never raised the price. I suppose they should be at least 35 or 50 cents tho'."

And what do men talk about in a lady's barber shop? Well, there is no swearing, no risque stories, and in fact according to Mrs. Wolfinger all of the men are perfect gentlemen. They really appreciate the shop in Promise City and they seem to enjoy the shop as much as they would an all men's shop.

Mrs. Wolfinger is also a housewife and carries on her activities just as any other wife might do, even to entertaining. The barber shop door is at the side of the house and there is a push button there. Anyone wanting service may push this button and go on into the basement room, which is quite apart from the rest of the home.

The house where Mrs. Wolfinger had her barber shop still stands. It is south of the Methodist Church across Highway 2. Mrs. Wolfinger was Anita Lord Wells' great grandmother, and Anita provided this article about Mrs. Wolfinger.

George Allen

Thursday evening at Wayne County Historical Society's Annual Meeting, Enfys McMurry gave highlights from her latest book, Centerville A Mid*American Saga. Although the book is the story of Centerville, Iowa and its inhabitants from its founding up through World War II, there are some Wayne County connections.

One of the connections that Enfys highlighted in her speech Thursday evening and in her book, is of George Allen, an African-American gentleman who lived and worked and is buried in Wayne County. 

In Chapter 26 entitled Centerville's African Americans, McMurry wrote about the "earliest permanent County residents of African descent". The first was a child, Frank Wells, who was brought from Texas to Appanoose County.

According to McMurry's book, "The second permanent resident was also a boy brought north from the South. He was unsure of his age, estimated to be six, but sure of his name---George---and that of his family's owner, Mr. Allen. George Allen became his name. For the slaves of Jackson, Mississippi, emancipation reached them five months late. In the melee following that city's fall in May 1863, in the chaos of slave fleeing owners and jostling and wounded soldiers making for the river, George became separated and lost from his parents.

Appanoose County's Dr. Nathan Udell, an early Democrat but a convert to Republicanism and then a surgeon with Iowa's Seventeenth Infantry, found him crying and brought him to Centerville. George was passed on to several local families before being raised by John Conger, one of the County's earliest abolitionists. When Conger moved west into neighboring Wayne County, George went with him. Always hardworking and well-liked, George appears in a photograph, presented to the Prairie Trails Museum of Wayne County by Mose Sager of Seymour, with his white friends sitting at the front of a porch in full sunshine. George stands alone behind them..." 

In this photo from the Prairie Trails Museum, the caption reads:

A GROUP OF FRIENDS

Clyde Greenlee, Vanch Nelson, Ed Hart, Wm. Miles, Bertha Harper, Floy Freeland, Stella Mardis, Eva Tedford, Clarence Cark, Charles Miles, Bert Miller, and N----- George

According to a story published on June 14, 1934 in Centerville's Daily Iowegian and Citizen newspaper, "George Allen began farming for himself on the Jerry Evans farm 3 miles north of Seymour, Iowa. From here he farmed a few years on the Lew Donald farm northeast of Promise City, Iowa, then rented the Davis farm near-by and continued farming here until about 1921. Affliction overtook this generous colored man. He then made his home at the Wayne county poor farm. Here he was made superintendent over the gardens and truck patches, and made his time self-paying to the taxpayers of his county.

Geo. Allen passed out of life in February, 1934, and his body was layed [sic] to rest at his request, in the Promise City cemetery, along with the white people who had passed on before, to the unknown world."

 It was reported in September of 1960, that a group of Promise City women collected money to buy and place a stone at George Allen's grave, nearly 27 years after his interment in that cemetery.