The proprietor of this barber shop and laundry drop-off was Hugh J. McAnaney. Hugh was born in Wooster, Ohio, in 1872, and it was there in 1895 that he married Alice Long. He came to Colorado around 1896 seeking a cure for his tuberculosis. He did some barbering in Denver and was probably also associated with the Queen City Laundry on California Street in Denver. (Denver has been known historically as the “Queen City of the Plains.”)
Sometime after moving to Fort Lupton around 1900, McAnaney established the business featured in this photo postcard. Based on photos I have seen of him, I believe Hugh is the gentleman standing off to the left. Based on the sign to the left of the front door, his business served as an “agency” of the Queen City Laundry, where people could drop off their items for laundering. I assume the laundry portion of his business was a satellite of the Denver company.
Though the business is long gone, DebraRay Thompson, former supervisor of the Fort Lupton Museum, was most helpful in ascertaining that the building is still standing. If you wish to look at it, enter 718 4th Street (i.e., southwest corner of 4th and Main) into Google Maps Street View at https://www.google.com/maps. Though showing the wear of more than a century and now sporting a western addition that once housed a millinery shop, a number of its original features remain.
As of the 1910 Census, Hugh was living on Denver Avenue with Alice and their three children, Mildred, Sarah and Hugh Jr. In 1911, Hugh succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 39 and is buried at Hillside Cemetery. By 1930, Alice had moved back to Wooster, where she died in 1944.
REFERENCES:
- Architectural Inventory Form of the draft Colorado Cultural Resource Survey, Rev. 9/98, provided by DebraRay Thompson.
- Denny Family Tree at www.ancestry.com
- “Denver,” www.wikipedia.org at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver
- McAnaney Obituary from the Fort Lupton Press, dated November 10, 1911, provided by DebraRay Thompson.
- 1899 Denver City Directory at www.ancestry.com
- 1900, 1910, and 1930 Censuses at www.ancestry.com
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