Locations - Connecticut

BRIDGEPORT. Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. "For sale... 5 station cash railway system and odds andends left in store at our old location." Brdgeport Evening Farmer, 3 May 1911, p. 1

BRIDGEPORT. Howlands (dry goods). "Last week Kirkintilloch was honoured with a visit from Mr. Andrew M. Cooper, 'Vice-President' of the Howland Dry Goods Co... There is .. [a] pneumatic tube cash carrier, which contains nearly three miles of tubing." Kirkintilloch Herald, 3 Mar. 1909, p. 5
•"In 1900.. Howland's became one of the most modern stores in the whole of New England... A pneumatic tube cash system was also installed. The new tube system became almost as big a customer drawer as were the store's daily ads in Bridgeport newspapers. Customers were fascinated by the little tubes that sailed overhead on trolley wires." Bridgeport Post, 2 Feb. 1958, p.33 (There seems to be some confusion between a pneumatic tube system and a wire system.)
• Magnetic separator in cash office. Lamson advertisement in Chain Store Age, June 1949
• "Remember when your bill and cash were sent by pneumatic tubes up to the Howlands' credit office and then your change came back in a felt tipped brass cylinder that would shoot out into a basket." East-Enders Alumni Association website

BRIDGEPORT. Reid & Todd, 1054 Main Street. "The office part of the store commands a full view of the store which is connected by a cash railway system at convenient intervals throughout the store." Newtown Bee, 7 Nov. 1902, p. 9

BRIDGEPORT. Radford B.Smith. "For sale... cash railway... Radford B.Smith, 232 Fairfield Ave." Bridgeport Telegram, 28 Dec. 1923

DANBURY. Hull & Rogers. "The Acme Cash Railway company have just fitted up the large block of Hull & Rogers, furniture and hardware deaers, Danbury, on five floors, with their system, and have put them up within the last few days in nine stores in New Haven, making twenty stores in New Haven supplied with this invaluable and inexpensive system." Morning Journal, 30 Sep. 1890, p. 2

DANBURY. W.H. Jones & Co. "They [the Acme Cash Railway company] have also equipped clothing stores in .. Danbury (for W.H. Jones & Co.)." Morning Journal, 30 Sep. 1890, p. 2

DANBURY. John M. Quim and Frank Scott dry goods store, Main Street. Wire system. Rootsweb website

HARTFORD. R. Ballerstein & Sons, 890 Main Street. "Opened to-night to the public." Cable system. Hartford Courant, 20 Mar. 1894, p.5

HARTFORD. G. Fox & Co. 406-410 Main Street. "Among the heaviest users [of Lamson carriers]." Lowell Courier, ? Oct. 1883. Photo of exterior.
• "Rail and wire systems worked best when stores had fewer floors and could locate their cashiers on a mezzanine or in a crow's nest elevated over the ground floor, as did the early G.Fox store in Hartford... When it grew to four stories, G.Fox also installed a similar [cable] system, running the cable through a center well." Jan Whitaker. Service and style: how the American department store fashioned the middle class. (St Martin's Press, 2006) p. 89
• Pneumatic system with magnetic separator. Lamson advertisement in Chain Store Age, June 1949. Also Lamson brochure, 1952
• Photograph of cash room ca. 1920 on Connecticut Historical Society website
• Store burned to the ground in Jan. 1917 and new building opened in 1918. Sold to May Department Stores in 1965 and closed in 1993.

HARTFORD. Albert Steiger & Co. Pneumatic system with magnetic separator. Lamson advertisement in Chain Store Age, June 1949

NEW HAVEN. J.N. Adam & Co. (dry goods). "The cash railway system rolled in the money." New Haven Morning Journal, 21 Dec. 1883, p. 3

NEW HAVEN. S.S. Adams, State/Court Streets. "We have instituted in our main store an entirely new cash system... The New Cash Railway does away with all unnecessary inconvenience to our customers." Daily Morning Journal, 19 Aug. 1907, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. S.H. Barnes (meat market), City Market. "One [Acme system is in use at] S. H. Barnes'." Morning Journal (New Haven), 27 Jul. 1889, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. F.A. Baserman. "One [Acme system is in use at] F.A. Baserman & Co.'s." Morning Journal (New Haven), 27 Jul. 1889, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Bolton & Neely. "Frank Williams, a clerk in the book department at Bolton & Neely's, New Jersey, has been arrested for taking money belonging to the concern... Whenever the customer paid the exact change Williams put the money in his pocket instead of sending it by the cash railway to the desk." Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 18 Jul. 1884, p. 2 [I think this may be an error for "New Haven".]
• "Our elevated cash railway dispenses with cash girls, and gives an exemption from the confusion occasioned by the cry of Cash!" Morning Journal (New Haven), Dec. 1885, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Boston Grocery (N.A. Fullerton), 386 Chapel Street. "Lamson cash carrier now in operation." Morning Journal (New Haven), 5 Jun. 1882, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. F.M. Brown & Co. "Patrons visiting F.M. Brown & Co.'s mammoth store are greatly interested over the new cash railway system put into operation there lately bu these enterprising merchants... The system works on the pulley or cable principle. It is operated by a ten horse power engine. There are twenty lines of railway throughout the store and two hundred stations or points from which salesmen can transmit money to the cashier's office. Eight lady cashiers are kept busy making change... From the remotest portions of the three floors of the store returns from the cashier are received in twenty seconds... It is one of the best systems yet devised and has so far been introduced only by a few leading merchants of the large cities, such as New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Boston." Morning Journal (New Haven), 9 Dec. 1891, p. 4

NEW HAVEN. Daniel Dore, Grand Avenue. "One [Acme system is in use at] Daniel Dore's." Morning Journal (New Haven), 27 Jul. 1889, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Wallace B. Fenn, 842 and 846 Chapel Street. "The 'Meteor Dispatch Cash Transmitter' is a wonderfully cute invention. It saves a world of time and steps... Change [is] made in one-half time consumed by the old process." New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier, 15 Nov. 1888, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Ewen McIntyre & Co., new Hubinger building. "The store .. is equipped with the Lamson cash carrier." Ibid. 7 Mar. 1895, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Edward Malley & Co., Chapel Street. "William M. O'Regan, Esq. .. is visiting our city in the interest of Australian corporations... He spent some time yesterday in noting the Lamson cash carrier system in use in Malley's, and was so well pleased with it that he thinks of visiting Lowell in reference to its introduction in the colones." Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven) 3 May, 1883, p. 2
• "Among the heaviest users [of Lamson carriers]." Lowell Courier, ? Oct. 1883
• "The handsome new store of the Edward Malley company on Chapel street is gradually taking on the holiday aspect... The Lamson cash delivery system will be put in in the new store. This system is dependent on the force of electricity, the racks being at the back of the cases." Daily Morning Journal and Courier, 4 Dec. 1901, p. 3
• "Pneumatic tubes that ran overhead". Sir Froggie's Positive News Network and Enchanted Self website

NEW HAVEN. Mendel & Freedman. "One [Acme system is in use at] Mendel & Freedman's." Morning Journal (New Haven), 27 Jul. 1889, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. R.W. Mills, 382 State Street. "His business has increased so much in the last six months that he has been obliged to extend his cash railway system." Morning Journal (New Haven), 6 Oct. 1888, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Frank Platt. "One [Acme] system is in use at Frank S. Platt's." Morning Journal (New Haven), 27 Jul. 1889, p. 2

NEW HAVEN. Shartenbergs, Chapel Street by State Street. "Pneumatic tubes that took your dollar bills or credit card, travelled overhead to a second-floor clerk, then returned with change and a receipt. Erstwhile kids will never forget that sight." Newhaven Advocate

NEW LONDON. Beckwith & Keefe, Bank Street. "Beckwith & Keefe opened their new store in Bank Street, which was handsomely furnished and equipped with Starr cash carrier system." News of New London - 22 Oct. 1889 in The Day, 22 Oct. 1914, p.6

NEW LONDON (Store not stated, but this must have been one of the earliest installations.) "A novel store cash system is in operation in New London, Conn. A local paper says: Hundreds of people visited the store to witness the automatic cash carrier in operation. This is a recent patent, and has not yet been introduced outside the New England cities. It consists of hollow spheres, pointed and locked at the equator, and provided with springs to hold the cash... These balls run on tracks having a decline of 1-16 of an inch to the foot... There are sixteen stations on the floor, and four balls to the station. The larger balls and pockets are furthest from the center." Sacramento Daily Record-Union 14 Jul. 1882, p. 3

NEWTOWN. W.B.Hall & Co. Main/Cannon Street. "Glancing up one notices the new rapid moving cable cash system lately put in by the firm, which greatly expedites the making of change." Newtown Bee, 9 Oct 1891, p. 1

NORWALK. Boston Store. "We are installing a Pneumatic Tube Cash System of the best and latest design." Norwich Bulletin, 20 Sep. 1910, p. 6

NORWICH. Reid & Hughes (Boston Store). "The new Shannon Building Store will be open for business Wednesday, September 21st... We are installing a Pneumatic Tube Cash system of the best and latest design, which .. removes the unsightly and other objectionable features of the other styles." Norwich Bulletin, 20 Sep. 1910, p. 6

NORWICH. Plaut-Cadden Co., 146 Main Street. "In the new Plaut-Cadden building on Main street the work has been pushed as fast as possible... The owners have just arranged to have put in the preferred cable cash carrier system by a Boston concern, and consider that when the five-story structure is completed they will have the best mercantile building in the city." Norwich Bulletin, 5 Oct. 1909, p. 7

NORWICH. Somers Bros. "For sale cheap - A four-station Lamson cash carrier system; good as new." Norwich Bulletin, 11 Nov. 1910, p. 8

SPRINGFIELD. Smith & Murray, Court/Main Street. "The Lambson [sic] cash carrier system has been introduced with the latest improvements, some patented within a week." The Press (Stafford Springs), 23 Oct. 1884, p. 3

STAMFORD. C.O.Miller Store, Atlantic Square. Guide to Nature, Apr. 1912 has some photographs apparently showing a cable system. "In 1916 .. a new overhead Lamson Electric cash system with drop stations was introduced." Guide to Nature, Nov. 1917 It appears in some illustrations including the china department and curtain department. In 1933 the store moved to 15 Bank Street and this had a pneumatic tube system with a central cashier's location upstairs. It closed in 1973.

WATERBURY. Garston's, 99 Bank Street. "Grover pneumatic tube system at Garston's installed by Edgar H. Whittier, 25 Biltmore St., Malden, Mass." Waterbury Democrat, 15 Nov. 1946, p. 6

WATERBURY. Miller and Peck. "Small railroad type 'box' cars which operated on tracks together with switches... The system was suspended from the ceiling. The system had two guide rails so the cars would not go off the tracks." Taken down in 1950s. R.McGarrity

WATERBURY. E.T. Turner & Co. "Another and smaller motor furnishes the power for the endless cable cash system. A trial of the improved cash system was given this morning... In exactly twenty seconds from the time the 'cash' was sent down the little messenger had returned to the starting point." Waterbury Evening Democrat, 23 Oct. 1890, p. 4

WATERBURY. F.A. Wenzel. "The Acme Cash Railway comany .. is installing a complete system of cash carriers in all portions of the building." Daily Morning Journal (New Haven), 9 Sep. 1902, p. 8

WATERBURY. Worths (dept. store). Pneumatic tube system in 1960s. "At some payment counters there were at least 4 tubes." Store closed in early 1990s. R.McGarrity

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