CHANNEL MARKERS - for the long run
Making the
Cut
by Karel Bond Lucander Photo courtesy of Town of Cornelius
Potts Barber Shop receives historic landmark designation Townsfolk have been getting their ears lowered at Potts Barber Shop in Cornelius for 63 years. But recently their 1930s-era building on Catawba Avenue received a special distinction to permanently preserve it: Historic landmark designation. “Landmark designation gives a special layer of protection to the property,” says Stewart Gray, historic resources program manager with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. “The architecture is an important artifact of the town, but Potts Barber Shop also helped to grow the town,” he says. Potts Barber Shop is Cornelius’ oldest continually operated Black-owned business and the town’s first integrated barber shop. In 1972, “Toot” Burton, an African American, entered the shop and asked for a haircut, which Wilson Potts provided. Before that, he had only served white clientele. “It was a big step in the Civil Rights movement in the town of Cornelius,” Gray says. As Wilson’s son and fellow barber, Mickey Potts, recalls, “We may have lost one customer but everyone else just took it in stride. There wasn’t any animosity; it was just something that happened.” Gray adds, “It is an example of how one person, Wilson Potts, could navigate Jim Crow and still advance and come up a pillar of the community.” In 1996, Wilson transferred the building and shop to Mickey, who continues to cut hair on Saturdays. “Dad cut hair for 71 or 72 years and I’m going on 65 years,” he says. Now Chad Hill and 16
LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS | JANUARY 2022
Wilson Potts and employees tend to customers in the 1990s.
Mark Muldrow, who have been working with Mickey for 25 and 23 years respectively, do most of the barbering. “They are kind of like my other kids,” he adds. During the 1950s and 1960s entrepreneur Wilson Potts helped to bring running water, sewer and electric service to Smithville— long before Smithville was incorporated into the town of Cornelius. He also helped to develop a community center and landscape the town. Raising six children with his wife, Bobbie, Wilson instilled in them a strong work ethic and civic responsibility. Dr. James Potts, their eldest son who practiced as a cardiologist for five decades, remembers his dad’s lessons well. “He was absolutely demanding about doing things right and doing them with the right attitude,” he says. “He was also a generous person to everyone in need. I have kept that throughout my life.” Ron Potts, their youngest son who bypassed barbering for a career in insurance, says his father would be pleased. “I know he would be honored that his barber shop got this designation, particularly as a Black-owned business in Cornelius that survived over 60 years. He had a ninth or tenth grade education, so I think it’s pretty remarkable for him to have achieved what he did.” On Feb. 26, 2022, there will be a presentation at Cornelius Town Hall with a plaque unveiling to follow at Potts Barber Shop at 21324 and 21328 Catawba Ave., Cornelius.