TERRE HAUTE — The Tribune-Star corrects errors. If you believe we have made an error, contact Editor Max Jones at (812) 231-4336 or e-mail him at max.jones@tribstar.com.
William Laffoon owned a barber shop and restaurant at 1532 Wabash Ave. as early as the 1920s, according to his grandson, Herbert Laffoon Jr. of Lynwood, Calif., and the Terre Haute City Directory of 1929. This information contradicts the widely held belief that Demetrius Ewing, owner of the National Tailors for several decades beginning in the 1950s, was the first black person to own and operate a business on Terre Haute’s main street.
