Tested by fire

Having survived a tumble into the basement in a 1948 fire, the 1920s barber chairs in Dick's Barber Shop have endured more than 90 years and at least 200,000 haircuts apiece. After a short move to 1 E. Franklin St., the chairs were back in service Friday.

Consider 200,000 butts.

When you hear, "they don't make 'em like they used to," the case in point is the longevity of the barber's chairs at Dick's Barber Shop.

Installed no later than 1923, the familiar orange chairs have survived more than nine decades and the rear ends of an estimated 200,000 customers each.

Moreover, each chair has its original mechanical and hydraulic parts and even the original screws holding them to the floor.

Or at least screws from 1948. That's the year the shop at 11 S. Indiana St. caught fire.

The floor collapsed in the blaze, sending the chairs into the basement. After the fire, they were retrieved from the basement, with only the leather upholstery seriously damaged.

The chairs were re-upholstered and reinstalled after the building was repaired.

That's where they remained until this week.

Moving the three behemoths, and the "new" chair from the 1940s at Phil Asbell's station, represented the most physically daunting task of the block-and-a-half move to 1 E. Franklin St.

The shop, and the chairs, reopened for business Friday, ready for another 92 years and 200,000 behinds ... but here's hoping no more fires.