Details

Collection Summary
Collection: 1976 - Dakota Photo Documentary Project
Folder: 0000.000
Item: 00612
Title: Martin Skrede, barber cutting man's hair in Starkweather (N.D.)
Date: 1976
Creator: Anderson, Jerry
Inscription/Marks: [Handwritten on back of photograph] 1976-00612 NDPDP-Ramsey-20 STARKWEATHER BARBER 20. Jerry Anderon, Ramsey Co.
Summary: Wide angle, low view of Martin Skrede, 81, barber cutting man's hair while another man waits in a chair photo left. (Skrede, Martin Mosessen--1895-1986) Martin Skrede was 8 or 9 when he started cutting the hair of his nine brothers on their Norway farm. Soft-spoken and diminutive, he emigrated from Norway in 1909, starting in Grand Forks in 1913 where he worked on the Great Northern Railroad until he could understand the language. Then Martin Skrede moved to Starkweather in 1916, population 200, and opened his one chair shop. For many years he railroaded by day and barbered by night, initially charging 25 cents for a shave – something barbers do little of anymore –and 50 cents for a haircut. During the Dirty ‘30s, he dropped the prices to 25 cents for hair and shaved for 10 cents. During World War II, about 60 soldiers were stationed in Starkweather to help area farmers who were short on manpower. For the duration of the war, Skrede gave free haircuts and shaves to the soldiers. His wife, May, 73, washed their weekly laundry for nothing. “I felt those men were fighting for their country and we should do something for them, instead of like some places where they got soaked for everything,” Skrede says. In 1977, he finally raised his prices to $1 and he stopped giving shaves. In 1980, he raised the price to $2 to help pay for his wife May’s care at a nursing home in Cando, North Dakota. Reluctantly in 1981 he raised it again to $2. One last time a month later he raised the price to $3. He was still charging $3 per haircut in 1985 enjoying the challenge of cutting each person’s hair. Martin Skrede passed away in April 1986 and his wife May in 1987.
Red ID: PH_I_155545 Image ID: 177506 Image Notes: 1976-00612 info-Martin Skrede Starkweater Barber 91Star Tribune Sun Jan 23 1977 p17-01

Collection: 1976 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Dakota Photo Documentary Project
Date: 1976

Summary: Photographic prints and negatives of towns in North Dakota taken during the Dakota Photo Documentary Project. Also includes residents of the towns and various landmarks in North Dakota. [Location: Begins at 1490509.10]

Collection Summary
Collection: 1976 - Dakota Photo Documentary Project
Folder: 0000.000
Item: 00612
Title: Martin Skrede, barber cutting man's hair in Starkweather (N.D.)
Date: 1976
Creator: Anderson, Jerry
Inscription/Marks: [Handwritten on back of photograph] 1976-00612 NDPDP-Ramsey-20 STARKWEATHER BARBER 20. Jerry Anderon, Ramsey Co.
Summary: Wide angle, low view of Martin Skrede, 81, barber cutting man's hair while another man waits in a chair photo left. (Skrede, Martin Mosessen--1895-1986) Martin Skrede was 8 or 9 when he started cutting the hair of his nine brothers on their Norway farm. Soft-spoken and diminutive, he emigrated from Norway in 1909, starting in Grand Forks in 1913 where he worked on the Great Northern Railroad until he could understand the language. Then Martin Skrede moved to Starkweather in 1916, population 200, and opened his one chair shop. For many years he railroaded by day and barbered by night, initially charging 25 cents for a shave – something barbers do little of anymore –and 50 cents for a haircut. During the Dirty ‘30s, he dropped the prices to 25 cents for hair and shaved for 10 cents. During World War II, about 60 soldiers were stationed in Starkweather to help area farmers who were short on manpower. For the duration of the war, Skrede gave free haircuts and shaves to the soldiers. His wife, May, 73, washed their weekly laundry for nothing. “I felt those men were fighting for their country and we should do something for them, instead of like some places where they got soaked for everything,” Skrede says. In 1977, he finally raised his prices to $1 and he stopped giving shaves. In 1980, he raised the price to $2 to help pay for his wife May’s care at a nursing home in Cando, North Dakota. Reluctantly in 1981 he raised it again to $2. One last time a month later he raised the price to $3. He was still charging $3 per haircut in 1985 enjoying the challenge of cutting each person’s hair. Martin Skrede passed away in April 1986 and his wife May in 1987.
Red ID: PH_I_155545 Image ID: 177507 Image Notes: 1976-00612

Collection: 1976 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Dakota Photo Documentary Project
Date: 1976

Summary: Photographic prints and negatives of towns in North Dakota taken during the Dakota Photo Documentary Project. Also includes residents of the towns and various landmarks in North Dakota. [Location: Begins at 1490509.10]

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