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Beauty academy ready to start 201st class
McCOOK, Neb. The McCook Beauty Academy starts its 201st class of students in June.
The academy, founded by Evelyn and Collins Grubb, is the oldest privately-owned beauty school in Nebraska. Since opening in 1952, it has graduated close to 1,800 professional hair dressers.
The new owner of the academy, Jane Carlisle of Oberlin, is herself a graduate of the academy. She is just the third owner in 62 years.
Jane said that, out of high school, she originally wanted to teach, but she and a girl friend decided to attend the beauty academy just 30 miles north in McCook. "My friend got married, but my cousin, Gary (Lucas), who owned the beauty school, encourage me to still attend," Jane said.
Jane graduated, earned her state license in 1971 and then obtained her instructor's license in Kearney. She taught in Kearney and Scottsbluff before operating her own salon for almost 25 years in Oberlin.
Jane switched from washing hair to washing cars (for her brother-in-law in McCook) for a time, and in 2010, she returned to her first love, teaching, at the McCook Beauty Academy.
Seven years later, Gary and his wife, Ruth, were easing into retirement and considered selling the school. Over the next month or so, Jane pondered the purchase. She consulted her brother and they studied the books, the pros and cons and the opportunities. "He helped me decide to buy the school," Jane said. "It all happened pretty quickly in just two months."
The academy's curriculum covers hair care, cutting and coloring; make-up; facials; and manicures, pedicures and artificial nails.
Jane teaches three classes each year, one starting in February, one starting in June, and another starting in August/September. The smallest class has been two students; larger class rolls have been in the low 20's. The classes are small, ensuring a low teacher-student ratio and one-on-one teacher attention.
New classes start Tuesday, June 11. Call the school at (308) 345-5285 for more information.,
The history of the McCook Beauty Academy is tied however unbelievably to the U.S. Army Air Base that operated north of McCook from 1943-1945.
Collins Grubb, from Indiana, was stationed at the base as a civil engineer, and his wife, Evelyn, a hairdresser, came out weekends to visit him. Evelyn suffered dreadfully with sinus infections in Indiana's humidity, but in the dry climate of Southwest Nebraska, her sinuses cleared up.
Collins liked the McCook area and Evelyn's health was so much improved that, when the air base shut down in 1945, the Grubbs decided to make McCook their home.
Evelyn closed her three salons in Indiana, and she and Collins opened beauty salon and beauty supply shop in downtown McCook, at 217 Norris, which is today's location of "The Mint" clothing shop.
In 1952, the State of Nebraska wrote a new law that required hair dressers to complete professional training. The Grubbs responded by opening the state's first privately-owned professional beauty academy, also at the Norris Avenue location.
Gary Lucas of McCook, the former son-in-law of the Grubbs, recently described Evelyn as "so ahead of her time," "a pioneer in the business" with "a Dale Carnegie personalty" who could easily "win friends and influence people," and help people believe passionately in themselves. With Evelyn at the helm of the school, it succeeded. Within its first four years, it graduated 125 hair dressers, each of whom completed 1,500 hours of training and successfully passed her state exams in theory and practice.
Five years after opening the school, the couple employed Rodney Leonard of Indiana and J. T. Casey of McCook to design a massive almost quarter-block size two-story building to house their growing school, salon and supply shop and office space for other McCook professionals.
When the Grubbs celebrated the grand opening of the new "Professional Building" on May 25, 1957, they shared the impressive black-and-white structure with Dr. G.A. DeMay MD, attorney Dal Wood, Dr. Y.W. Dorwart DDS, geologist R.D. Rutledge and the McCook Eye Clinic, the State Farm claims office, the Eleanor Brill Beauty Shop, Ike Malcolm's Farmers Insurance Group and Bob Wilson.
The Grubbs retired in 1964 and sold their beauty academy and their Aphrodite Beauty Shop and Uncle Amos Crop Shop to Gary. In 2017, Gary and Ruth sold the beauty academy to Jane, and in 2019, they sold the beauty shop and crop shop to Anna (also a graduate of the beauty academy) and Tanner Powell.
Over the years, the early professionals relocated, but McCook Beauty Academy and the beauty shops have remained.
McCook Beauty Academy is located, as it has been since 1957, at 201 East C. Jane teaches class Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., and students are available for appointments with the public from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.