Locations - District of Columbia

ALEXANDRIA. Swan Bros, King Street. "Swan Bros. .. also intends to install one of the latest methods of handling cash. This will be the new model overhead Lamson cash system, which will make it unnecessary to have a cashier on the main floor of the store. The cashier's desk will be placed on the new balcony in the rear of the store." Alexandria Gazette, 3 Apr. 1913, p. 1

WASHINGTON. Baum. "The new building which Mr. Baum has added to the rear of his Seventh street building, and which will be opened to the public next Thursday .. makes his store one of the largest in the city... With the aid of the patent cash railway which Mr. Baum has long use, the additional sales .. can be handled with the same rapidity and accuracy as heretofore." National Republican, 10 Dec. 1883, p. 6

WASHINGTON. Bon Marche, 314 Seventh Street. "Our patrons delighted with the perfect and rapid working of our new Cable Cash Carrier system, crowd the 'Bon Marche' daily." Evening Star (Washington), 18 June 1886, p.4
• "The electric cash carriers buzz and whirr and the music of industry plays." Evening Times, 19 Dec. 1898, p.7

WASHINGTON. Burchells (grocers), 1325 F Street, NW. Detailed photograph showing Rapid Wire propulsion, 1921. Shorpy website

WASHINGTON. Center Market Agricultural Machinery and Mercantile Co. "Every portion of this mammoth mart .. will soon be ready for occupancy, as the cable cash railway and the counters or stands are being placed in position." Evening Star, 15 Sep. 1888, p. 8

WASHINGTON. Samuel Friedlander, 416 7th Street NW. "Wanted... cashier; must understand Lamson cable cash system." Washington Times, 3 Sep. 1901, p.7

WASHINGTON. John D. Hayes. Air-Line wire system. Very detailed photograph showing four propulsions and cash office on a balcony, ca. 1920. Shorpy website

WASHINGTON. Hecht. Lamson pneumatic tube system. Lamson brochure, 1952

WASHINGTON. Hymans, 1320 7th Street. "Messrs. Frank T., John B., Charles M. and Henry L.Hyman constitue a firm that has just advertised in this city the most extensive and elaborate strictly five and ten cent store south of New York... The store embraces a three story brick building 18 X 100 ... Lamson's improved cash carrier railway system with six stations is kept busy whirling the cash to a central desk. This system is manipulated by fourteen young ladies, mostly normal graduates, rated upon the pay-roll as clerks." New York Age, 21 June 1890, p.1
• "The store of the Hyman Bros., Washington, D.C., recently had a grand opening to inaugurate a decided enlargement and general improvement due to the large and growing trade... They have all the modern appliances necessary to carry on a first class business, including a fine cash carrier system." Church Advocate, 9 Apr. 1892, p. 2

WASHINGTON. Johnston's, 729 and 731 7th Street. "We use the Lamson Elevated Cash Railway System, operated by electricity." Evening Star (Washington), 10 Feb. 1898, p. 6

WASHINGTON. S. Kann, Sons & Co., 8th and Market Streets. "Yesterday was one of our wonder days .. the rattle of calls and the flying cash cable sounded like hailstone on a tin roof." Evening Star (Washington), 8 Dec. 1896, p. 10

WASHINGTON. King's Palace, 810-816 Seventh Street. "Our entire stores are to be remodelled... Improved cash carriers." Washington Times, 7 Jun. 1906, p.2

WASHINGTON. Knickerbocker, 1228 F Street, N.W. "For sale ... Lamson cash tube system." Evening Star (Washington), 21 Oct. 1956, p. B-8

WASHINGTON. Oppenheimer's (dress shop). Photograph of ca. 1919 showing cable system drop on Shorpy

WASHINGTON. Palais Royal (dept. store), 11th and G Streets. Building completed in 1893. "The cash room, in which centers the pneumatic-tube system, bringing money from all parts of the building and whisking the change back again in a minute, is also in the basement." Washington Post, Oct. 1893. Sold to Woodward & Lothrop in 1946 becoming their "North Building". Photographs on Streets of Washington website

WASHINGTON. Philipsborn, F Street/12th. "On the opening tomorrow... Best wishes from .. Lamson Corporation, Pneumatic Tube System." Evening Star (Washington), 30 Jan. 1952, p. B-4

WASHINGTON. Seaton Perry, 9th Street/Pennsylvania Ave. "The builders have been busy in the establishment of Mr. Seaton Perry... The addition consists of three floors, each 25x100 feet... The meteor cash system, the pneumatic service that the largest stores in the east and west employ, but which is only used here in Washington, tunnels the store like arteries, coming to light at convenient points, where stations are established." Evening Star, 29 Sep. 1893, p. 10

WASHINGTON. Smithsonian Institution. "They even own a Lamson Cash Carroer once used to transport money through department stores." Telegraph [Nashua], 10 Mar. 1991, p.55

WASHINGTON. L. Stern, 824 7th street, N.W. "I will sell .. the entire stock of L. Stern... 12 stations of Lamson's Cash and Parcel Carriers, complete." Evening Star (Washington), 28 Mar. 1898, p. 22

WASHINGTON. Woodward & Lothrop ( Boston Dry Goods House), 921 Penna. Avenue, D Street 912. "The day of the cash boy is drawing to a close... The ladies who thronged Woodward & Lothrop's Boston dry goods house, Pennsylvania avenue, betwen 9th and 10th streets, this morning, witnessed the Lamson automatic cash carrier system in full operation. It may be described briefly as an elevated railroad, on which hollow wooden globes, freighted with cash and bills, are sent to and from the cashier and salesman... The successful operation of the system this morning was witnessed by many people, the constant and rythmical click of the balls making a very cheerful and agreeable accompaniment for the prosy details of business. " Evening Star (Washington), 20 May 1882, p. 8.
"The Automatic Cash Railway System in use in our establishment... We have recently added five more stations... The cash is carried to the cashier/s desk upon an elevated inclined railway. and is returned in the same manner in a moment's time... This, in connection with our elevated bundle counter system, enables us to wait upon customers in the shortest possible time." National Republican, 31 May 1883, p. 8
• "Among the heaviest users [of Lamson carriers]." Lowell Courier, ? Oct. 1883
• "Quick work. Thirty stations. Three cashiers. By actual count, our cashiers make change, fifty transactions in five minutes, or once in every five seconds... No confusion, no time lost; the cash carriers are returned from the cashiers' desk on an average of eleven to the minute, by undoubtedly the most expert handler of cash in the city." Alexandria Gazette, 27 Dec. 1884, p. 1
• "Our cashiers can make change, 60 transactions in 5 minutes... Not satisfied with the Elevated Cash Railway, we conceived the idea of elevating our bundle-wrappers .. and while the cashier is making the change the bundle is being wrapped." National Republican, 22 Dec. 1885
( Opened a new store at 10th, 11th, F and G Streets N.W. in 1887.)
• "The automatic cash railway, the same system which Messrs. Woodward & Lothrop have used for several years in the avenue store .. and much neater in appearance, runs throughout communivating with the cashiers' desks in the various stories, which are located above the level of the shelving. This system has been thoroughly tested and found to be most satisfactory, and the neat track and other excellent workmanship of this miniature elevated road is rather an attractive feature." National Reoublican, 2 Apr. 1887, p. 3
• "In the 1890s, Woodward & Lothrop installed a Cable Cash Railway that ran on a speedy cable that traveled fourteen feet per second and serviced 110 stations on the store's four floors." Jan Whitaker. Service and style: how the American department store fashioned the middle class. (St Martin's Press, 2006) p. 89.
• "Evidence of the store's technological prowess could be found in the Martin & Hill Electric Cable Cash Railway, a Rube-Goldberg contraption that included a small track running in all directions throughout the building's four shopping floors. It transported cash from station to station in small 'German silver box cars' that raced about at 14 feet per second." Greater Greater Washington website