Wednesday in Wyoming - October 2, 2024

 

Where do you find a store that's half store/ half museum? In Kemmerer, Wyoming, that's where. The JC Penney "mother store" still sells the merchandise you'd expect from Penney's, but it also has a number of historic items on display including old cash registers, sewing machines, lunch pails, and -- my favorite -- the pulley system that moved money from the main floor to the cashiers on the mezzanine.

 Definitely a fun place to visit!

Wednesday in Wyoming - May 19, 2021

 

Where can you find high-button shoe equipment and a two-headed calf as well as exhibits about coal mining? The Fossil Country Frontier Museum in Kemmerer, WY.

And, if you're in the area, you won't want to miss the J.C. Penney homestead and mother store as well as Fossil Butte National Monument.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- March 28, 2018

What would an old-fashioned home be without a pantry? The one in the back of the J.C. Penney homestead holds such diverse objects as dishes, canned goods, and even a flat iron. 

It looks as if the cane-bottom chair could use some work, doesn't it? When I see something like that, I start spinning stories. Did mice eat the seat? Did an overweight person break it? Could the sun have rotted the caning?

What do you think? And did you enjoy your visit to Kemmerer? I hope so!

Wednesday in Wyoming -- March 21, 2018

Today we're going to look at a few items from the interior of the J.C. Penney homestead in Kemmerer.

Do you know what this is? That's right. It's a butter churn, but not everyone knew that. The guide told me that one of the volunteers thought it was used to wash clothing. I'm still trying to imagine putting clothes inside the churn. I suppose you could, but ...

The butter churn picture also gives you a close-up of the packing crates that were used to panel the enclosed back porch. Isn't the handwriting beautiful? That's become almost a lost art.

Did you know that J.C. Penney once sold its own line of flatware? Here's an example of one pattern, which was part of the table setting in the homestead.

I continue to be amazed at the variety of goods you could purchase in a Penney's store and, later, through the catalog.  As many of you said when I featured the Mother Store in blog posts last year, the Penney's name triggers happy memories.

I highly recommend a visit to the Mother Store and the homestead if you're anywhere near Kemmerer. It's a trip back in history.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- March 14, 2018

Remember the addition at the back of the J.C. Penney home? This enclosed porch is part of it. If you look closely, you'll see that the "paneling" on the walls comes from shipping crates. How's that for recycling or reuse?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- March 7, 2018

One of the highlights of Kemmerer is the J.C. Penney homestead, which has been turned into a museum. Although it's very attractive with its porch and spindle-work trim, the original part of the house is small. Tall people need to duck their heads in the upstairs room.

A side view shows you that the house was built in stages, being expanded as the family grew. (Notice the unmatched siding.)

Are you surprised at how modest a home this was for a man like Mr. Penney?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- July 26, 2017

Today marks the last day of our tour of the JCPenney Mother Store, and what better way to end it than to show you a display of items connected to Mr. Penney himself?

Here we have one of his hats, along with a bronze bust of him in his older days. What do you think about the gold shoes? Too flashy? That's what I thought at first, but then I realized that they were an appropriate gift for a man who started his career at a store called "The Golden Rule."

From everything I've read about him, James Cash Penney embodied the values in the golden rule and left a legacy of hard work, honesty, and caring, not to mention a multi-billion dollar enterprise that bears his name. A fine legacy, indeed.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- July 19, 2017

Let's continue our look at the JCPenney Mother Store in Kemmerer with a closer look at the interior.

Although the merchandise that's for sale is modern, Penney's wanted visitors to see what the store looked like in the early twentieth century.  To do that, they've placed antique merchandise on top of the shelves and posted some of the store's slogans along with old pictures on the walls.

I'm not sure what all these items are, although I did recognize the milk can and the barrel, but I found the combination of old and new appealing.  Do you?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- July 12, 2017

Do you know what this is?  Since I told you last week that my July posts would be about the JCPenney Mother Store, you can guess that the picture was taken there.  But what is the purpose of this system of pulleys?

Believe it or not, it's how customers paid for merchandise and received change in the early days of the store. One of the defining characteristics of the Golden Rule and subsequently the JCPenney stores was that sales were cash only -- no credit -- so a lot of cash changed hands each day.

When a customer gave a clerk payment, the cash was placed in one of the tubes along with the sales slip. The tubes were then hoisted via the pulley system to the second floor of the building, where the cash register was located.  Change was returned by the same method. A unique system, don't you agree?

This was the first cash register.

The "cash only" policy remained in effect until 1958, when the store introduced its own credit card, reflecting the fact the country had changed, and Penney's needed to as well if they were going to continue to adhere to their principle of making customer satisfaction their highest priority.

More changes occurred two decades later when bank credit cards began to replace individual store cards. (One of the advantages of the bank credit cards was that it was easier for customers to carry one card and receive one bill rather than dozens.) In response to customer demand, Penney's began accepting Visa in 1979, with Mastercard following in 1980.

And now, although the Mother Store still maintains a nostalgic air, payment is definitely modern.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- July 5, 2017

Did you know that JCPenney, the national department store chain, had its beginnings in a small town in southwestern Wyoming? I had the pleasure of visiting it last month and am going to share highlights of my trip in this month's Wednesday in Wyoming posts.

Although this is not the original building or, for that matter the original location, the building is referred to as the "Mother Store" and brings tourists to tiny Kemmerer, Wyoming from all across the country to see where James Cash Penney opened his first store on April 14, 1902.

The first store was part of the Golden Rule chain of stores and he was only a part owner, but by 1907 Penney had full ownership of three Golden Rule stores, and in 1913 he incorporated under the J.C. Penney Company, Inc. name. The rest is history.

As you saw from the first picture, the outside is typical of many stores in small towns, complete with a bench for husbands to sit while their wives shop. Here's the interior.

There've been a few changes to it, including the addition of skylights, but much of the rest is the same as it was in the early twentieth century.  The merchandise, however, is all twenty-first century. And the welcome that the store's associates give customers would have made Mr. Penney proud, because it incorporates his maxim "to serve the public, as nearly as we can, to its complete satisfaction."