The “Worst” barber shop in Plainfield to celebrate 140 years

Many businesses don’t survive more than a decade, much less a century and a half.

But the “Worst Barber Shop” in Plainfield is not only celebrating its 140th anniversary the first week of June, the Lincolnway Barbershop – the barber shop’s current name – has been owned by the same family all these years.

Lincoln Way Barber Shop will offer haircuts for $1.40 from June 1 through June 5 and an open house on June 6 at the shop, located at 24045 Lockport St. in Plainfield.

The family will celebrate with a private catered meal on June 5 at the barber shop, Sharon said.

“We are hoping that the longtime Plainfielders will share stories and the newer residents of our growing town will enjoy the stories and learn about the ‘Worst Barber Shop’ in Plainfield,” Sharon Kinley, wife of Don Kinley, current owner, said in an email. “We also have ordered shirts to celebrate the event.”

Guests can enjoy popcorn and cookies, view historical displays and memorabilia and listen to a barbershop quartet. The barber shop will also have suckers, bubblegum cigars and mustaches for the kids, so they can look like the original owner Albert Worst, who was known by his “handsome mustache,” Sharon said.

Sharon said Albert was born was in Lockport to German immigrants. Albert’s father was a shoemaker in Lockport, she said.

When Albert was 20, he moved to Plainfield, bought a barber shop from David Dishman – who was one of the first African Americans to live in Plainfield, Sharon said – and opened the Al Worst Barber Shop.

“He has his shop on the southeast corner of what is now Lockport and Des Plaines Street,” Sharon said. “It was upstairs.”

After a couple of fires on that street, Albert moved his shop to the north side of the street in the middle of the block, Sharon said.

“He used to raise banty roosters,” Sharon said. “And one would follow him to the shop.”

In 1901, Albert had a brick building built on the south side of the street. Albert moved his barber shop into that building in 1902, which is still the home of the Lincoln Way Barber Shop today, Sharon said.

“He ran it until about 1928 when he turned it over to his son Floyd,” Sharon said. “Albert died in 1930. Floyd continued to run the shop and he had other barbers working for him.”

Sharon said Floyd started working in the shop – cleaning the shop and shaving implements – when he was still in school.

“When he was 15, his dad said to him, ‘The next customer is your guy to shave,’” Sharon said. “That’s how Floyd got started. Then he served under apprenticeship for his dad, both for shaving and cutting hair.”

Now Floyd’s youngest son Bob wanted to own a gas station. Bob had his gas station picked out when World War II began, and Bob went to serve in the military.

“He had to turn that gas station over to someone else,” Sharon said.

In the meantime, Floyd wrote Bob a letter that Sharon said read like this: “I know you always wanted to run a gas station, but I’m really going to need your help in the barber shop if you would consider that.”

“So Bob went to Moler Barber College in Chicago when he came back from the war,” Sharon said. “In the late 1940s, he went to work with his father. It became Bob and Floyd, and they often had another barber in there working with them. Floyd retired in 1963 and Bob took over the barber shop at that point.”

Don, Bob’s nephew, did not grow up working in the barber shop. But Don never wanted to work anywhere else, he said.

“I didn’t have a second choice in my mind,” Don said.

Immediately after Don graduated from the former Plainfield High School (now Plainfield High School – Central Campus), Don also attended Moler Barber College in Chicago and then enlisted in the Army in 1955.

Don said he played in the 371st Army Band at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On Saturdays, he cut hair on base in the morning, and he cut air in a civilian barber shop in the afternoon.

He met Sharon on July 4, 1956 (He was in uniform, she was standing against a tree, Don said). They became engaged on Oct. 17 of 1956 and were married on June 9 of 1957.

Sharon and Don moved back to Plainfield in the fall of 1957 and Don started working in the barbershop the very next day. Don said he worked there for a while and then he wanted to try something else.

So Don worked in an office, then he worked in sales and finally he worked for the U.S. Post Office for more than 20 years. During those years, Don cut hair for clients in his basement at home. He also taught drum lessons he said.

“When my uncle passed away in 1993, my aunt called me and said, ‘Don, you’re first on the list if you want it,’” Don said.

So Don said he “signed on the dotted line.” And at 57, he started his second career.

Sharon and Don had two sons – David and Randy – who now also own Lincoln Way Barber Shop. When Sharon was 25, she enrolled in Joliet Junior College, eventually earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and then building a teaching career, Don said.

Through the years, starting with Albert, the barber shop has supported local sports teams. At 84, Don doesn’t cut too much hair now; one full-time barber and two part-time barbers take care of the customers now, he said.

But Don also said that, 99% of the time, he never dreaded going to work.

“I’d come home from work and my wife would say, ‘Well, was it a good day?’” Don recalled. “And I would say, ‘I was a Republican; I was a Democrat; I was a Cubs fan; I was a Sox fan; I was a Packers fan; I was a Protestant; and I was a Catholic.”

For more information, visit the Lincolnway Barbershop Facebook page.