Sykesville, The Way It Was
"Dutchie" by Frank Humphrey
Back in the early twenties, Sykesville was able to support two Tonsorial Parlors, and then there was Little Dutchie Wolfgang.
Robert (Chubb) Bruce was located in the little room just east of the Silver Front Bar and Grill.
Theodore (Red) Pomoroy was set up in the room between the Smith Hotel and the Estes and Long Building.
Now Chubb and Red each had a two-chair operation and a guy could get the finest from a hair wash, hair cut, a shave complete with lotion, lilac water, bay rum, "the works," if one was willing to spare the time and pay the price which could add up to maybe a buck ten cents or more.
When a guy came out to face the world from either of these places he was sure ready for action. It showed and he also smelled good.
Now Dutchies, that was an entirely different operation. Situated in what is now the Keystone Bank parking lot were two small weather-beaten old "L" shaped buildings that had never been forced to support a coat of paint - no never.
Dutchie set up his single chair operation in what was originally the kitchen of the house next to the alley.
Dutchie specialized in hair cuts, but he would give you a shave if time permitted. You see, the success of his operation was directly dependent upon the working conditions at the mines. If work was slack or the mines were out on strike each kid in town would invariably support one of those funny looking hair cuts that the mothers usually gave, but, in normal times on the Saturday after pay day the kids would line up, maybe twenty or thirty deep, to get a Dutchie three minute, ten cent special.
By observing the kid's hair cuts in town one had a true barometer or indicator as to the working conditions at the mines at the time.
It was said that the best day that Dutchie ever had was a little shy of a hundred heads. This happened on a Saturday before the Easter holidays one year.
Conditions were usually considered normal when Dutchie would be walking about his shop with hair well above his ankles. I'm sure each good day would produce enough of the stuff to stuff a mattress - a king size that is.
In those days there were no electric clippers or such equipment but that meant nothing to Little Dutchie. He was a true dynamo with the tools he had to work with and when in his regular routine he operated with very little, if any, unnecessary lost motions. He was efficiency personified.
Dutchie was much needed and appreciated in Sykesville and I might say that every town of any size should have at least one "Dutchie."
Published in the Sykesville-Post Dispatch,
June 15, 1989
"Dutchie" by Frank Humphrey
Back in the early twenties, Sykesville was able to support two Tonsorial Parlors, and then there was Little Dutchie Wolfgang.
Robert (Chubb) Bruce was located in the little room just east of the Silver Front Bar and Grill.
Theodore (Red) Pomoroy was set up in the room between the Smith Hotel and the Estes and Long Building.
Now Chubb and Red each had a two-chair operation and a guy could get the finest from a hair wash, hair cut, a shave complete with lotion, lilac water, bay rum, "the works," if one was willing to spare the time and pay the price which could add up to maybe a buck ten cents or more.
When a guy came out to face the world from either of these places he was sure ready for action. It showed and he also smelled good.
Now Dutchies, that was an entirely different operation. Situated in what is now the Keystone Bank parking lot were two small weather-beaten old "L" shaped buildings that had never been forced to support a coat of paint - no never.
Dutchie set up his single chair operation in what was originally the kitchen of the house next to the alley.
Dutchie specialized in hair cuts, but he would give you a shave if time permitted. You see, the success of his operation was directly dependent upon the working conditions at the mines. If work was slack or the mines were out on strike each kid in town would invariably support one of those funny looking hair cuts that the mothers usually gave, but, in normal times on the Saturday after pay day the kids would line up, maybe twenty or thirty deep, to get a Dutchie three minute, ten cent special.
By observing the kid's hair cuts in town one had a true barometer or indicator as to the working conditions at the mines at the time.
It was said that the best day that Dutchie ever had was a little shy of a hundred heads. This happened on a Saturday before the Easter holidays one year.
Conditions were usually considered normal when Dutchie would be walking about his shop with hair well above his ankles. I'm sure each good day would produce enough of the stuff to stuff a mattress - a king size that is.
In those days there were no electric clippers or such equipment but that meant nothing to Little Dutchie. He was a true dynamo with the tools he had to work with and when in his regular routine he operated with very little, if any, unnecessary lost motions. He was efficiency personified.
Dutchie was much needed and appreciated in Sykesville and I might say that every town of any size should have at least one "Dutchie."
Published in the Sykesville-Post Dispatch,
June 15, 1989
Sykesville, The Way It Was
"Dutchie" by Frank Humphrey
Back in the early twenties, Sykesville was able to support two Tonsorial Parlors, and then there was Little Dutchie Wolfgang.
Robert (Chubb) Bruce was located in the little room just east of the Silver Front Bar and Grill.
Theodore (Red) Pomoroy was set up in the room between the Smith Hotel and the Estes and Long Building.
Now Chubb and Red each had a two-chair operation and a guy could get the finest from a hair wash, hair cut, a shave complete with lotion, lilac water, bay rum, "the works," if one was willing to spare the time and pay the price which could add up to maybe a buck ten cents or more.
When a guy came out to face the world from either of these places he was sure ready for action. It showed and he also smelled good.
Now Dutchies, that was an entirely different operation. Situated in what is now the Keystone Bank parking lot were two small weather-beaten old "L" shaped buildings that had never been forced to support a coat of paint - no never.
Dutchie set up his single chair operation in what was originally the kitchen of the house next to the alley.
Dutchie specialized in hair cuts, but he would give you a shave if time permitted. You see, the success of his operation was directly dependent upon the working conditions at the mines. If work was slack or the mines were out on strike each kid in town would invariably support one of those funny looking hair cuts that the mothers usually gave, but, in normal times on the Saturday after pay day the kids would line up, maybe twenty or thirty deep, to get a Dutchie three minute, ten cent special.
By observing the kid's hair cuts in town one had a true barometer or indicator as to the working conditions at the mines at the time.
It was said that the best day that Dutchie ever had was a little shy of a hundred heads. This happened on a Saturday before the Easter holidays one year.
Conditions were usually considered normal when Dutchie would be walking about his shop with hair well above his ankles. I'm sure each good day would produce enough of the stuff to stuff a mattress - a king size that is.
In those days there were no electric clippers or such equipment but that meant nothing to Little Dutchie. He was a true dynamo with the tools he had to work with and when in his regular routine he operated with very little, if any, unnecessary lost motions. He was efficiency personified.
Dutchie was much needed and appreciated in Sykesville and I might say that every town of any size should have at least one "Dutchie."
Published in the Sykesville-Post Dispatch,
June 15, 1989
"Dutchie" by Frank Humphrey
Back in the early twenties, Sykesville was able to support two Tonsorial Parlors, and then there was Little Dutchie Wolfgang.
Robert (Chubb) Bruce was located in the little room just east of the Silver Front Bar and Grill.
Theodore (Red) Pomoroy was set up in the room between the Smith Hotel and the Estes and Long Building.
Now Chubb and Red each had a two-chair operation and a guy could get the finest from a hair wash, hair cut, a shave complete with lotion, lilac water, bay rum, "the works," if one was willing to spare the time and pay the price which could add up to maybe a buck ten cents or more.
When a guy came out to face the world from either of these places he was sure ready for action. It showed and he also smelled good.
Now Dutchies, that was an entirely different operation. Situated in what is now the Keystone Bank parking lot were two small weather-beaten old "L" shaped buildings that had never been forced to support a coat of paint - no never.
Dutchie set up his single chair operation in what was originally the kitchen of the house next to the alley.
Dutchie specialized in hair cuts, but he would give you a shave if time permitted. You see, the success of his operation was directly dependent upon the working conditions at the mines. If work was slack or the mines were out on strike each kid in town would invariably support one of those funny looking hair cuts that the mothers usually gave, but, in normal times on the Saturday after pay day the kids would line up, maybe twenty or thirty deep, to get a Dutchie three minute, ten cent special.
By observing the kid's hair cuts in town one had a true barometer or indicator as to the working conditions at the mines at the time.
It was said that the best day that Dutchie ever had was a little shy of a hundred heads. This happened on a Saturday before the Easter holidays one year.
Conditions were usually considered normal when Dutchie would be walking about his shop with hair well above his ankles. I'm sure each good day would produce enough of the stuff to stuff a mattress - a king size that is.
In those days there were no electric clippers or such equipment but that meant nothing to Little Dutchie. He was a true dynamo with the tools he had to work with and when in his regular routine he operated with very little, if any, unnecessary lost motions. He was efficiency personified.
Dutchie was much needed and appreciated in Sykesville and I might say that every town of any size should have at least one "Dutchie."
Published in the Sykesville-Post Dispatch,
June 15, 1989
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