Friona's First Barber Shop

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Friona's first barbershop, out there in Parmer County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. Friona got its start in 1906.

Twenty years on, the town had put down enough roots that businesses were taking shape, and 1926 was the year things really started filling in. That's the year Jack Anderson opened the town's very first barbershop. But to understand Jack Anderson, you've got to go back a little further.

Back to 1903, when a young man named Jack Anderson began his barber career out at the XIT Ranch. The XIT. If you know anything about West Texas, you know that name carries weight.

He learned his trade there, and when he eventually settled in Friona, he brought every bit of that experience with him. So in 1926, Jack's barbershop opened its doors. And he didn't just cut hair for a year or two.

He cut hair for generations. Let that word sit with you. Generations.

Now here's where the story picks up some real texture. In 1951, a young man named Lee Gibson walked into that shop. He wasn't there for a haircut.

He went to work for Mr. Anderson as a shoeshiner and general caretaker. A young man, learning the rhythms of a place, watching a craftsman work.

Gibson didn't stop there. He went off and graduated barber school, and in 1963 he came back to Jack's, this time as a barber himself. The student, returned.

The two of them worked side by side in that little shop for years, until Mr. Anderson's death in 1969. That same year, Lee Gibson bought the shop.

And he ran that business for several decades more. Here's the thing that really lands this story, though. That barbershop is still standing.

Structurally unchanged. One of the few buildings left in Friona that looks the way it did in the early days of the town's history. While the world kept moving and changing all around it, that building just stood there, holding its ground.

Started with a barber who learned his trade at the XIT in 1903. Carried forward by a shoeshiner who became a barber and kept the chair warm long after his mentor was gone. Some buildings are just walls and a roof.

This one's a whole story.

What the marker says

Friona was established in 1906 and by 1926, various businesses were established. Jack Anderson began his barber career at the XIT Ranch in 1903. He settled in Friona where he opened the town’s first barbershop in 1926 and cut hair for generations. In 1951, a young Lee Gibson went to work for Mr. Anderson as a shoeshiner and general caretaker. After graduating barber school, Gibson began working at Jack’s in 1963 as a barber. They worked together until Mr. Anderson’s death in 1969. Mr. Gibson bought the shop that same year and ran the business for several decades. The barbershop remains one of the few structurally-unchanged historic buildings from early days of Friona’s history. (2016)