John and Bob Conley have been cutting a path toward the future since 1969.

While other local businesses have come and gone, their barbershop at 2200 E. Winona Ave., in Lakeview Shopping Center has been a staple in the community.

"It's a working man's barbershop," John said.

Their barbershop reflects not only a working man's world, but also history.

On the walls hang antique hand tools collected over the years. Fading pictures and calendars decorate the one-room shop. Magazines and newspapers sit atop tables and in a magazine rack for customers to read while waiting. The television is on, tuned to CNN, attracting the attention of customers both old and young, as it reveals the daily happenings.

Conley's barbershop has seen some of its own history too. Last year, John's son John Conley Jr. began working alongside them.

"It started when I was growing up, watching my dad cut hair," John Jr. said. "I modeled myself after him. The first time I started, I practiced on my dad. He told me the proper way to handle scissors, what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong. I went really slow. I wasn't as fast as I am now."

He said, "I definitely want to own my own shop (someday). I want to do it until my body tells me I can't do it anymore."

His decision to cut hair didn't surprise his father. A lifetime of cutting hair may also be something else that he modeled after his father, also not a surprise.

John Sr. said he will be cutting hair himself for "forever and six months."

While John Jr. can still remember the first haircuts he gave others, it's been awhile for John Sr. and Bob.

"It's been so long," Bob said. "You think it's been a year, and you look, it's been five."

John Sr. bought the shop in 1969. Bob joined the shop two years later. Both John Sr. and Bob went to barber college in Indianapolis. John Jr. received his barber education at Wright Beauty College in Wabash.

"My older brother got me started in the business," John Sr. said.

And their educations and experiences in hair cutting have helped them to stay on top with all the competition they face and have faced.

"There are about 350,000 beauty shops in this community and they all cut men's hair," Bob said. "We've had people from all parts of the world come in here; Africa, Asia, Europe; (while) visiting the seminary in Winona Lake."

The competition hasn't been anything new, though.

"Back (when we first started), there were 12 barbershops in town, nine that I can remember," John Sr. said.

As Bob and John have seen the community change and grow, they've also become very knowledgeable about what the community thinks about politics, basketball, and farming.

On politics, John said, "There's been no change in politics in this county in 100 years."

As for people in the community paying attention to the Clinton Trial, John said, "Some are and some aren't. It's just like the polls you read, people are tired of it."

On basketball, he said, "The attendance is the lowest its ever been at ballgames. People are finding other things to do and not enough time to do it all in. People are stressed out."

On farming, he said, "People sure like to talk about farming. You don't farm, you don't eat."

The biggest local story of the past 30 years, Bob said, was the 1994 David Swearingen case.

"It held the entire community hostage for a week," Bob said. "As soon as the news hit he was dead, the community breathed a sigh of relief."

Swearingen was a suspect in the murder of his two children and Kosciusko County Detective Sergeant Phillip Hochstetler. After an intense two-day manhunt, Swearingen was critically injured following a brief downtown chase and shootout with police. He died July 1, 1994.

The past though is just that, and the future can be anything the community wants it to be, the Conleys said.

"If they don't get a better sewer system and get more industry in here, it'll go the way of other small communities," John said.

"It's going to continue to grow. We got too much for it not to grow," Bob said. "What I hope doesn't happen is that large corporations buy out all the local corporations. Downsizing will only hurt the people of this community."

The barbershop isn't always a serious discussion group though. Many jokes and the laughs that come along with them have been shared within the walls of the shop.

"I talked to a hog farmer the other day who said he hired a security officer to watch his hog lot," Bob told a customer. "I asked him if he was afraid they'd steal his hogs. No, he said, he was afraid they'd drop some off."

The joke got a laugh from the customer.

John said when he first opened up the barbershop in '69, a haircut was only $1.50. The current charge for a haircut is $7.

Not only has the charge changed, but so have the needs and wants of the customers.

"(Haircuts) have gotten much shorter," John said. "Used to, kids would come in here and parents would want it shaved off, but the kids would argue with them. Now, kids want it shaved off and parents don't want them to get it shaved." [[In-content Ad]]