Where the Past Meets the Present—Exploring Kingfisher’s History
John Gilmour shared the story of his uncle, Finis Lee, who owned the barbershop depicted in the picture. Finis was the husband of John’s mother’s sister, Jewell. Judging by the cars in the photo, he likely began renting the building sometime in the 1930s, though John does not know who owned the building at the time. John’s earliest memory of the shop was getting a haircut there as a small child. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Finis worked with Herb Pierson and his sons in the Anheuser Busch building, which is now the Pioneer HQ. Later, he ran a barbershop in Dover until his retirement.
The next owner John can recall was Archie Stetler, who operated a radio and TV repair business in the 1950s. Following Archie’s death, John purchased the building from the family in the mid-1960s and remodeled it, replacing the wooden floor with concrete and making other upgrades, including the storefront. The first tenant was a beauty shop owned by Eva Mae Little, which was later run by her daughter-in-law. After that, Ruth Ellison operated her ceramic shop there for a time before moving across the street to a larger building.
Over the years, the building has housed a variety of businesses, including several beauty shops, another barbershop, a gun shop, an engineering office, a church, a dog grooming business, and others that John might have forgotten. The building was rarely empty, often serving as a successful startup location for many businesses. As he got older, John began divesting some properties and eventually sold the building to his tenant, Lynelle McCormick, who currently runs her dog grooming business, Central Bark, there.
As a side note, the building now occupied by Ace Hardware was once a Ford dealership owned by Dick Post, and the section of the building next to the alley was the Ford Implement dealer owned by Ray Lee (who is not related to Finis). This part of the building was also where Dorsey Brown started OKT Trailers.
Information and photo provided by John Gilmour.
