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Lewisburg Historic District Walking Tour
Item 54 of 58
Built circa 1860, this building may have housed the Lewisburg Post Office between 1865 and 1881. This location has been in continuous use as a barbershop since 1891.

Known for many years as Flanagan's Barber Shop, this building sits on part of Lot 24 of Lewisburg's original town lots.  The earliest indication of a building on this site was in 1860 when a deed refers to a store house.  There is some evidence the store house served as a saddle shop and tobacco shop before becoming a barber shop.

The first evidence the building served as a barber shop was in 1891 when Frank Anderson Perkins bought it.  Perkins was an African American and related to Nancy Perkins Callender, a former slave who owned a restaurant on Washington Street.  Perkins sold the building to Edward Carter, also an African American barber.

According to Dr. John Montgomery, local historian, men would go to the barber shop for a weekly and sometimes daily shaves. The shop was filled with colorful shaving mugs that belonged to the patrons. It was a favorite gathering spot for senior citizens who came to socialize and catch up on the local news and gossip. 
Montgomery, John F.  Come Walk With Me Thorough the Streets of Historic Lewisburg. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Co., 1995.