Bluffton resident searches for answers about building's past

BLUFFTON — There's a mystery about the building at 125 N. Main St. in Bluffton, and owner Liz Gordon-Hancock hopes to track down the answers. She's been told that a basement barber shop – currently Stoney's Barber Shop - has been in continuous operation in her building for over 100 years. She's also heard rumors that this is one of the few remaining basement barber shops in the state of Ohio. Now she's trying to piece together a history of the different barbers who have used the site. "It's a mystery of history," she said. Gordon-Hancock explained that basement barber shops were apparently typical at the turn of the century. She's found numerous advertisements for these businesses while searching old copies of the Bluffton News. It's piqued her interest. According to records she's found, the building existed in 1895, but not five years earlier. "I don't know when it was actually built and I don't even know who built it," said Gordon-Hancock. "Those parts don't seem to get recorded in history or I haven't put enough pieces together, but I'm trying." So instead of concentrating on the building, she's now trying to track the history of barbers who have worked there. "I'm using advertisements. A lot of the time they'll do the name, but they won't list the proprietor. Or they'll do the name and proprietor, but they don't list the address," she said. "It's interesting the selectiveness of the story per se, and I know all history is 'selective.' But in this case it's very frustrating because I would like answers." Gordon-Hancock is the daughter of Bob and Deb Beer. She graduated from Bluffton High School and Ohio Northern University. As part of her college career, she spent her junior year in Wales, United Kingdom at the University of Wales, Lampeter, where she met her future husband, Robert Gordon-Hancock. After graduation, she married and moved to London, England. The couple lived in the UK for 10 years, then moved back to Bluffton to raise their three children. They purchased the building block at the corner of Main and Vine streets in 2020 from Richard Boehr, who had owned it for 50 years. Today the building houses several offices, business space and apartments in addition to the barber shop, but according to a Sanborn fire insurance map from 1895, the brick structure originally housed a pharmacy, Gordon-Hancock said. It later morphed into First National Bank of Bluffton. The word "Bank" can still be read above the front business door. Gordon-Hancock said it didn't last long thought because of speculation. "From what I call tell, this one folded quite quickly in the early 1920s. Citizens Bank was there for one year before they moved, so I am not the bank that got robbed by Dillinger," she said. (John Dillinger drove into Bluffton on Aug. 14, 1933, and robbed Citizens National Bank.) Part of the apartments on the second floor once were used by performers for the opera house across the street in what is now the Black Lab Trading Co. building. Bluffton's original coffee shop was also formerly located in the front commercial space of her building, she said. Original tin tiles can still be seen on the ceiling in that area. While the search has been hindered at times, Gordon-Hancock said this historical treasure hunt is right down her alley. "I love to research. I'm an English literature major so writing is my forte and research goes along in that," she said. She said part of what drives her is the opportunity to celebrate a piece of the town's history. "I want to catalog that, especially before that knowledge is gone," she said. Gordon-Hancock has searched local archives at the Bluffton Public Library and Musselman Library at Bluffton University which has microfiche or older editions of the Bluffton News that are not available online. "I've done what I can in terms of your basic online search and what the Library of Congress has readable," she said. "Now it's more digging." She's also seeking out local residents. Gordon-Hancock quizzed the former owner for information. And last month, she sent a letter to the Bluffton Icon, an online news source, asking for the community's help in filling in some of the gaps. "One of the more interesting responses I got back was from a man whose grandfather was one of the original barbers within living memory," she said. Boehr had told her that Curly Basinger's great-grandfather was the first barber at that location. Then Gordon-Hancock heard from a relative of Curly's who said his father, Jesse, was a barber. But Jesse's father had been a farmer. "So the story that the great-grandfather of Curly Basinger was the first barber is not accurate because his great-grandfather was a farmer. We're trying to put all these puzzle pieces together," Gordon-Hancock said. Other names of early barbers she's come across include Mr. Day, Bob Lewis, Dick Smith and Jerry Marshall. The most recent barber, Craig Stone, has operated Stoney's Barber Shop on the lower level for 12 years. Gordon-Hancock said she'd like to have a complete list to confirm that a barber shop has been at that location for 100 years and to preserve its history. "That was definitely in the top three reasons why we took this on, not just that we had a passion for this particular building," she said. "It was the history of this place, it's weird, quirky character." She said they also wanted to put down roots in town and have a say in what comes to Bluffton and how the downtown benefits and thrives. Bluffton is currently starting a historical society with a goal of having a museum. A group is also working on its next comprehensive plan for the next 20 years of the village, she said. "We want to make Bluffton a tourist destination because we have this story to tell and we are not your typical town," said Gordon-Hancock. "So it will be interesting to see how these two things develop and converge." "Another puzzle," she said. Anyone who has information about the building or early barbers who may have operated their basement business there can email Gordon-Hancock at fghgllc@outlook.com or send a letter to Bluffton Icon Media, P.O. Box 31, Bluffton, OH 45817.