Friona's First Barber Shop
Friona, Parmer County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in 1906, the Panhandle town of Friona had gathered a cluster of businesses by the 1920s. Jack Anderson, who first learned the barber's trade on the storied XIT Ranch in 1903, opened the town's first barbershop in 1926 and cut hair for generations. A young Lee Gibson joined in 1951 as a shoeshiner, became a barber, and bought the shop in 1969, running it for decades in one of Friona's few structurally unchanged early buildings.
Why it matters
The barbershop preserves the everyday commercial and social fabric of a young Panhandle town and the trades that knit its community together.
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Related people
- · Jack Anderson
- · Lee Gibson
Themes & tags
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