Shops

ABILENE. A.E.Bishop & Co. "To enable our large force of clerks to wait on our customers more rapidly, we have put in six stations of Chapman's Cash Railway System, which enables our clerks to send cash from any part of the house to the cashier." Abilene Weekly Reflector, 6 Dec. 1888, Suppl.
• "The money is placed in tiny cars which is [sic] propelled along a wire by a spring... The only thing of its kind in the county." Ibid., 29 Nov. 1888, p. 6
• "The city talked of little else today than the opening of the mammoth consolidated store of J.B. Cose and A.E. Bishop, corner of Broadway and Third street... On this floor is the oak finished private office where Miss Mildred Lewis, bookkeeper and stenographer, sits, being in close connection with all parts of the establishment by Chapman's cash railway system." Ibid., 31 Oct. 1889, p. 6

ARKANSAS CITY. O.P.Houghton "has put in his dry goods store a cash railway system. It is operated by means of compressed air and differs from any other system in use in the city." Arkansas City Republican, 19 Mar. 1887

ARKANSAS CITY. A.A.Newman. "A. A. Newman & Co., have just established the rapid cash railway system in their mammoth dry goods house." Arkansas City Republican 12 Jun. 1886

ATCHISON. J.C.Penneys, 609 North Sixth Street. "Cash registers are replacing Lamson cash carrier systems in all J.C.Penney Co. stores... The Lamson equipment had but few mechanical failures in view of the hard service it has seen... The Atchison store, No. 157 in the Penney system.. was established in 1917 and some think the Lamson system was used from the start... There are 10 stations in the store from where money was sent over the Lamson system to Mrs. Parr in the office. The office is located on a balcony above the main floor. The little cash cups were suspended from a metal holder that was carried along by two little wheels riding on a single strand of piano wire. A second strand of wire, running parallel to the'track' wire, was used to give the equipment rigidity... In addition to the Lamson system, the local Penney store has also had a cable system in operation since November 1950. A continuous moving cable transported cash cups from the shoe, infants wear, work clothing, and ladies ready-to-wear departments to the cashier. This system will also be abolished." Atchison Daily Globe, 3 June 1956, p.16.

BELOIT. E. & H. Dilworth. "Their store room now occupies 25x132 feet in the basement and main floor, with a shop on the second floor 25x42 feet... A cash railway the entire length of the building, from the front to the cashier's desk, assists in the careful and safe transaction of their large business." American Artisan, 20 Nov. 1886, p. 11

COFFEYVILLE. Logan, Snow & Co. "There are about twelve distinct departments in this big double store and a carrier is found in each of them. This innovation in Logan, Snow & Co.'s store affords several advantages. It is a saving of space and will give the clerk full time to look after his or her department, as well as affording all of the clerks ample time and opportunity to give their undivided attention to the many customers that enter tl:e store. Each clerk can now remain in her own deparment, thus assuring the public at all times of the strictest and most courteous attention, as well as enabling the clerks to keep the big stock of goods well in place and in good order." Coffeyville Daily Journal, 19 Apr. 1907, p.1

EMPORIA. I.D. Fox. "Mr Elwood Chapman of this city has invented and patented a cash railway for use in stores... The first one in use in this city was put up in I. D. Fox & Co.'s store." Emporia Weekly News, 8 Apr. 1886, p. 3

EMPORIA. Lloyd & Thomas, 507 Commercial Street. "A large number of people visited the dry goods house of Lloyd & Thomas to examine the working of the famous 'Lamson cash railway system' now used in their store." Emporia Weekly News, 15 Oct. 1885, p. 4
• "Closing out business! ... Lamson Cash Railway, etc., for sale. Emporia Weekly News, 16 Jun. 1887, p. 4

GOODLAND. J.C.Penney. Opened 1 August 1929. "She remembers when the store cashier used a trolley system. A cup was attached to a pulley and was pulled up to a cashier in the upstairs office... It helped with the bookkeeping with only one person doing it for the whole store." Goodland Daily News, 30 Apr. 2002, p.1

GOODLAND. Wolffs and McCarrolls (clothing store), 1024 Main. "The building featured an upper mezzanine in the shape of a horseshoe. The mezzanine housed displays and the bookkeeping department. The bookkeeping system consisted of a canister, in which clerks would put money and send it up to the bookkeeping department. The bookkeepers would make change and send it back down to the clerk." Sherman County Historical Society website

IOLA. Grand Leader. "Bedell Bros. at the Grand Leader have installed the Barr cash carrier system. By this system the persons sending the cash or the cashier can control the car both ways." Iola Register, 3 May 1901, p. 6

IOLA. New York Store, Southwest Cor. Square. "Our new store will have all the modern improvements - cash carrier system." Iola Register, 7 Oct. 1898, p.8

LAWRENCE. J.C.Penney. Lamson Air-Line system in 1940s-60s until store moved to a new location. Harlan Miller

LAWRENCE. Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts Street. "Weaver's Department Store .. has begun an 18-month remodelling... Still undecided is the fate of Weaver's pneumatic tube system, which transports cash, checks and sales receipts back and forth between the sales counters and the store's bookkeeping department. Flannery said the store is completely computerized with the exception of the tube system but noted that many customers have said they would prefer to see it stay... His son, Joe, .. said the tube system probably is the only one still operating in a retail store in Kansas and 'one of the few west of the Mississippi'. Lawrence Journal-World, 19 July 1987, p. 70
• "This small old-fashioned department store ... still uses pneumatic tubes to transport money up to the accounts department and back down with change and receipts." Lawrence Chamber of Commerce website.
• Still in use in 2007. Made by Airmatic Systems Company of Saddle Brook, NJ and installed around 1935. Twelve stations on four floors. Harlan Miller

MOUND VALLEY. Wise Brothers. "One side of the store is devoted to the sale of dry goods and clothing and the other side to groceries and shoes... A cash-carrier system is used, thus requiring the constant attention of a cashier. Five people are employed as clerks." History of Labette County, Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. Hon. Nelson Case (Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co., 1901)

POMONA. Mindlin Store. "John Krause will soon begin work on an addition to the Mindlin store building... When completed, it will give Mr. Mindlin the finest store room in any county town in Kansas. It is the intention to fit it up with cash carriers, department counters, a resr room for the ladies..." Annals of Pomona, Kansas, 1901

SALINA. E.W.Ober. "Salina cannot praise in too extravagent terms the mammoth palace store of Mr. E.W. Ober - accounted by the best judges to be .. the best equipped general merchandise establishment west of Topeka... An elevated cash railway system will soon be adopted for the whole establishment." Saline County Journal, 12 Nov. 1885

WICHITA. Cole & Jones. "Cole & Jones yesterday placed in their store and have in successful operation the Detroit system of cash carriers." Wichita Eagle, 8 Jul. 1888, p.5

WICHITA. Henrys Inc. Lamson pneumatic tube system. Lamson brochure, 1952

WICHITA. A.S.Munson. "Our attention was attracted yesterday morning to the cash railway in Mr. A.S. Munson's dry goods store... The track is a network of wire one end of which is slightly elevated so that a round ball placed upon it will roll along to the end or station where it is deposited in a basket in easy reach of the clerk... Mr. Munson will take pleasure in showing you its peculiar features. It is the only thing of the kind in this part of the state." Daily Eagle (Witchita), 23 May 1884. Later became Munson and McNamara and then McNamara and Company.

WINFIELD. Calverts, Main Street. "Martha Jean Robinson’s most vivid memory of that store .. was its overhead electric conveyor system which ran from the various departments to the business office on the second-floor balcony. When a payment was made, a clerk would put the cash and a sales slip into a cup, place it on the conveyor and send it to the cashier’s station in the balcony. If change was to be made, it would be returned the same way. Calvert’s was located on the corner of East Eighth and Main. The building burned in February 1984 and 800 Main Place, which now occupies the site, was completed in November 1987." Bill Bottorff's website

WINFIELD. J.B.Lynn's. "A unique feature of Mr Lynn's splendid store is the elevated cash railway, the most convenient cashier system ever invented." Winfield Courier, 1 Jan. 1885.
• J.B.Lynn has had a railroad smash up and all trains are stopped, causing much inconvenience. The stove pipe did it. It fell on the elevated cash railway and broke its back-bone. The patentee's manipulator will be on in a day or so to repair it." Winfield Courier, 25 June 1885
• "When a payment was made, a clerk would put the cash and a sales slip into a cup and send it to the cashier's station in the balcony. Bill Bottorff's website

indicates systems which are still there (as far as I know) though they may not be working.