Our Past Is Present May 2, 2017

May 2, 2017

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Rain did not deter Junction City shoppers or even people from the surrounding trade territory from attending the opening of the new J.C. Penney Company store in town on May 21, 1928 at 9:00 that morning.  The beautiful new business was as resplendent as carpenters, painters and electricians could make it.  The store was thronged with shoppers all day and the large force of salespeople was busy selling new goods which had only just been unpacked and displayed. Junction City businessmen welcomed the new store through the medium of advertising and by sending congratulatory messages and flowers. The store was under the management of Dan Taylor, who for years was associated with his father’s dry good store, which was once in the location of the new J.C. Penny’s Store.  The J. C. Penny store in Junction City was number 901 for the company.  The arrangement of the various departments apparently made a strong appeal to those who attended the opening.  Each department was easily accessible from all others on the main floor.  Many of us remember the store as having  a devise in which the purchaser’s money was placed into a tube and sent by a system to an upstairs teller, who then sent the same tube back down to the sales person to give change and/or receipt to the customer.  The address of the J.C. Penny’s store in this story was located at 619-621 North Washington Street in Junction City.