Conroe, TX: Shepard's Barber Shop
Address: 116 Simonton St, Conroe, TX 77301
Opened: 1912
Status: Open
Elvis Date: Late August, 1955
I Visited On: July 15, 2023
Relevance: Elvis got a $1 haircut here
My experience
Went walking around Conroe’s historic downtown and came across 4 Elvis spots in just 2-3 small blocks. The barbershop looks a little out of place though, even around the historic buildings of the same time period, and this is simply because the shop is so small, while all the other historic buildings are significantly larger. It looks like they picked up the building from a different part of town and placed it there. It’s actually kinda comical.
Inside, the barber was more than happy to talk local barber shop history with me, while cutting the hair of a boy in his early-teens. The kid’s dad was sitting right inside the door. I asked the barber if I could take pictures for my Elvis blog and the kid’s dad looked at the barber and said, “Hey, you never told me Elvis got his hair cut here!” I love it when stuff like that happens because we part ways and they know a little bit more about the King of Rock’n’Roll than they did 5 minutes prior.
The barber shop is modest inside with wood paneled walls, classic/old barber shop chairs, and a wall covered in pictures and newspaper clippings about the shop.
History of the site
A local icon, the barbershop has only changed ownership a handful of times since it opened in 1912. In 2015, the barbershop was named the oldest barbershop in Montgomery County by the Montgomery County Historical Commission.
There isn’t a great deal of information about the barbershop that I could find online, and with the Conroe archives being "temporarily closed" and the library having no new-to-me information, the most I could find about the building’s history was from a newspaper article on the shop wall.
The article reads:
THE FAMILY TIES BEHIND THE FIRST BARBER SHOP
According to Carolyn Cryar, a cousin of the West family and respected Conroe historian, Jack West, was married to Susie Uzzell and Henry Williamson married Willie Mae Frolick on Oct. 12, 1912.
The history narrative describes how Susie and Willie Mae were first cousins and very close.
Williamson had a barber shop on Main Street that was lost in the 1911 fire.
Bob Shepard, the owner of the “Little Jack West Building” said Jack West must have felt for his wife’s family and decided to help by building a little shop to replace the one that Williamson had lost in the fire.
The smaller building was constructed of red brick that was left over from the construction of the West Building next door.
It’s estimated in the narrative that the building was completed in late 1911.
According to Shepard’s interviews with long-time Conroe residents, Williamson operated the four-chair barbershop until 1938 when he sold it to Stovall Thomas.
SHEPARD’S PATH TO BECOMING A BARBER
Shepard’s father was working at a mill along FM 2854 when Shepard was born in 1935 and was delivered at home by the mill doctor, Dr. Bartell.
A few short years later, his family moved back to the Conroe townside and Shepard attended Conroe schools.
In his high school years, many of Shepard’s buddies were going off to join the Army.
While Shepard’s mother wouldn’t agree to the Army, she did agree to sign the papers for him to enlist in the Air Force.
Shepard served as a medic stationed in the Shreveport, La. area.
While working as a medic, one of his co-workers convinced him that he should go to barber’s college and get his license so he could earn some extra money while he was going to college with help from G.I. Bill.
Shepard began cutting hair in the barber shop now known as Shepard’s Barber Shop in 1959 when it was owned and operated by Stovall Thomas.
In 1968, Thomas sold the barber shop business to Warren Stubblefield, who owned the shop until Shepard bought the business in 1971. At the time, Shepard leased the building from the West family.
THE LEGACY OF A YOUNG BARBER
A young Leon Apostolo has grown up in the Conroe area and at 17, was trying to figure out what to do with his future.
Apostolo’s dad, Bernie, had a friend, R.C. McWright, who had a barber shop and told Bernie to send Leon to barber college and he’d hire him.
Apostolo attended barber college in The Heights neighborhood of Houston, and after passing the exam in Lubbock, began working at a barber shop on Main Street in Conroe.
He said things didn’t really work out there and he was sent to see Bobby Joe Shepard, who had been a childhood friend of father Bernie’s.
Apostolo started at Shepard’s Barber Shop in August of 1978 at the age of 17.
Shepard and fellow barber, Mark Slaughter, mentored Apostolo and the torch has now been passed on to Apostolo who owns Shepard’s Barber Shop.
Apostolo bought the shop from Shepard when Shepard retired in 2013.
WORKING WITH PEOPLE
Both Apostolo and Shepard conclude that they’ve cut three-and-four generations of hair for some Conroe families.
And there’s pictures on their memorabilia wall of great-grandfathers, grandfathers, sons, and grandsons all standing together with the barbers of the shop.
Shepard said there’s no telling how many first hair-cuts have taken place in the shop. And in some instances, those children are now returning as grown men to have their hair trimmed.
Apostolo and Shepard agree that meeting people and hearing their stories is one of the things they enjoy most about being a barber.
“I really enjoy meeting a lot of interesting people and hearing a lot of interesting stories,” Apostolo said.
He added he gets a real sense of satisfaction from making someone look good and feel good.
“That’s rewarding, when they compliment me and say ‘Man, that looks good,’ that makes me feel good,” Apostolo said. “That’s why I take pride in my work and it makes me want to do my best to make them look and feel good. That’s my reward.”
THE HISTORY
The wall behind the waiting area at Shepard’s Barber Shop is filled with local history and memorabilia that’s been given to the shop over the years.
Some of the photos show Conroe in its infancy, the destruction of Conroe’s 1911 fire and more.
Then there’s the shop’s brush with celebrity.
One photo on the wall shows a young Elvis Presley having his hair cut in August 1955. Presley was a part of the Louisiana Hayride Tour and played a concert in Conroe along with local musician and now radio personality, Mary McCoy, one August night atop a flatbed trailer on the local football field.
There’s also lots of posters from famed Roy Harris’ boxing days and photos and posters of local musician Larry Butler solo and with his good friend Willie Nelson.
Even the hat stand, checker board and Coke machine are vintage.
“I think people today are hungry for that,” Apostolo said. “In the fast-paced times we live in, they can come in here and feel like wow, ‘I remember this from when I was a kid.’ It takes them to a simpler time when things were at a much slower pace.”
Once when Shepard was trying to make some updates to the shop, he decided to sell the old-style chairs in favor of more modern ones for $100 a piece.
“Boy was that a dumb stunt,” he said.
Turns out the old-style chairs are what the customers wanted and those pieces of nostalgia are still a part of the shop today.
THE BUILDING’S UPGRADE
In June 2000, Shepard purchased the building from owners Billy Mark McKnight, Mark West McKnight, and Susie Rose McKnight, the grandchildren of Jack West.
In March 2007, Shepard executed a facade easement and conservation right agreement with the city of Conroe. A grant helped restore and renovate the facade.
Although the faces of the barbers have changed throughout the years, the style, nostalgia, and friendly service and banter remain.
“It’s a really good shop.” Shepard concludes.
Much information in this report is credited to an application for an official Montgomery County Historical Marker for Shepard’s Barber Shop by Larry L. Foerster and Sharon R. Russell with assistance from Old Republic Title of Conroe, and presented to the Montgomery County Historical Commission.
The inscription on the barber shop plague, reads: Shepard's Barber Shop | The oldest barber shop in continuous use in Montgomery County. The building was known locally as the "Little Jack West Building" when constructed by Peter West and son John Henry "Jack" West circa 1911. It was first used as a barber shop by Henry R. Williamson in 1912 and later by Stovall Thomas in 1938. Bobby Joe Shepard purchased the building in 2000 from the West heirs. The building's exterior was restored in 2007.
All the photos were taken by me, with the acceptation of the picture of Elvis in Shepard's Barber Shop.
Please, credit me, if you use my photos.
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