Norm Hagen, retires his scissors after 70 years
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NORMAN HAGEN AT HIS BARBER SHOP in Downtown Glenwood City. After 72 years of cutting hair, Norm will retire at the end of this month. Norm is sanding by one of the original barber poles that at one time graced the city’s main street. Norm said, “Customers would tie their horses to that pole.” —photo by Carlton DeWitt
by Renee Bettendorf
GLENWOOD CITY – On a recent afternoon Norm Hagen, 92, chatted with several friends at his barber shop which has been located in downtown Glenwood City since 1958. The big news of the day was Norm’s retirement which will happen later this month.
“Is there something specific you plan on doing when you retire?” asked one friend.
“Sleep!” joked Norm.
Norm’s Barber Shop is a regular hangout for humans and dogs alike. Visitors drop in regularly to enjoy coffee and treats most every day. Norm will host one last coffee and doughnut party at his shop on Saturday, April 27th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
On Monday, April 15th Norm will be featured on Kare 11 News during the Land of 10,000 Stories segment where stories of unique individuals are told. He was interviewed by Kare 11 reporter Boyd Huppert earlier this month and the piece will air during the 10:00 p.m. broadcast.
Norm is originally from rural Glenwood City and graduated from Glenwood City High School in 1949. After graduation he worked in La Crosse at Grant Department Store, then went on to the Twin Cities and worked construction doing cement work and brick laying.
He attended Lee’s Barber School in St. Paul and graduated from there on April 14, 1952. He then started his barber career which would last for 72 years. During his first years as a barber he worked in Baldwin, Spring Valley and Woodville.
Then there was an opening for a barber position in Glenwood City so he went to work in his hometown. When he started working in Glenwood City there were five barbers in town
“Now most towns don’t have any,” he said.
The first shop he worked at in Glenwood City was in the building where Ashleson Dental is currently located. At that time the building housed a barber shop, post office and bakery, according to Norm.
“The bakery, I miss the bakery. They had good bismarcks and bread,” he said.
Eventually that building was sold and converted into a doctor’s office. Right around the time the building was sold, Rudy Benson, another barber in town, decided to sell his shop and move to where the Hair Depot salon is currently.
Norm purchased the old Benson shop, which also housed three apartments and was located where Mayo Clinic is now. While he was at that location, the Midway Cafe closed and people didn’t have anywhere to get coffee. Then one day someone brought in a coffee pot and some cookies and that started Norm’s tradition of serving refreshments at his shop.
He ran his barber shop out of that building for many years until Mayo Clinic bought him out. He then moved to his current location which is located right next to Sunshine Fitness on Oak Street and has been there ever since.
Norm’s Barber Shop is a bit of a time capsule. He has a vintage barber chair from 1949 which he bought from a barber school in Eau Claire. Many pictures of locally famous folks like Andy Pafko line the walls.
Through his decades in Glenwood City Norm has witnessed a number of changes. He remembers when there was a bandstand located downtown. Every year Santa would visit the bandstand and hand out candy.
Also during the winter, dog sled and snowmobile races were held at the St. Croix County fairgrounds. There was also a ski jump near Holy Cross Church in the 1940s and 50s. Then in the 1960s the jump was moved to near Logghe Trucking and some of the components of the lift are still there.
“There was a show house, a movie theater and it was a nice one. Then when TV came along that was the end of that. It was there up into the 1960s,” said Norm.
He’s also witnessed changes in barbering and barbering equipment. At the first shop he had a coal stove in the basement that he used to heat water. He had to get to the shop early to light the stove and was glad when he was able to purchase an oil burner. Of course there was no air conditioning but he did the best he could by rigging up a car radiator and running cold water through it.
“It was so hot in there,” remembers Norm.
Some haircuts from back in the day that Norm remembers being popular with local residents include flattops, crew cuts and burrs. Sometimes haircuts can be influenced by the music industry as was the case with the ducktail cut made popular by Elvis Presley. Norm said plenty of his customers requested “Elvis haircuts”.
“I couldn’t get them very good,” he said of Elvis haircuts.
He said most haircuts nowadays are pretty short and that people used to wear their hair a lot longer and fuller. And he used to do more shaving with razors and back in the day he used to sharpen razors with straps and stones.
In addition to running a barber shop, Norm also was a dairy farmer and his wife, Mary, worked at the school as a secretary. Norm and his wife had four children; Craig, Todd, Chris, and Tracy. He is also a proud grandfather to 5 granchildren, 2 step-granchildren, and one great granddaughter.
“We used to have to milk cows and had a barbershop and the wife worked at the school. We were pretty busy,” said Norm.
Many years back, he remembers one particularly busy day which happened the day before the Fourth of July holiday. It had rained and none of the farmers could bale their hay because it was too wet and it seemed like everyone wanted a haircut before the holiday and had the time to get one. He opened his shop at 7:30 a.m. that morning and did not close until 1:30 a.m. the next morning and he only stopped once to eat a hamburger.
“It was steady haircuts,” he said of that July day long ago.
Luckily that just happened once, but there were many Friday nights where Norm would cut hair until about 10:00 p.m. since the stores were all open and people often came into town to shop on Friday nights.
Norm still owns his farm and his son Todd manages it. At the farm he drives tractor and tends to apple trees and grape vines. He’s looking forward to spending more time at the farm after he retires. He also has some home and garden projects planned.
“I’m just gonna be around the house and garden and help my son up on the farm,” said Norm of his future plans.
