Locations - United States (North-Eastern)

Including the states of Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin

AKRON, Oh. M. O'Neil. Lamson pneumatic tube system. (Lamson brochure, 1952)

ALTOONA, Pa. William F. Gable, "The People's Store", Eleventh Ave. New building opened in 1892. Cable system with 90 stations. Gable's 30th Anniversary Souvenir

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Muehlig (dry goods). "Bertha Muehlig received many honors in recognition of her services to the people of Ann Arbor... The store retained the interior decor and services of the beginning of the century, including a spring operated cash carrier system which was probably the last of its kind in the state." Ann Arbor Historic District Commission: Historic buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1992, p.106

ASHTABULA, Oh. Carlisle-Allen (dept store), Progress Place. "The cash system was a Lamson pneumatic tube system with the tubes concealed in the false ceiling between the floors." E.Schaeffer: Ashtabula people and places (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005), p.73

AUBURN, Me. B. Peck Co., Main Street. "The largest department store east of Boston...It was .. so elegant that even the pipes in the pneumatic tube cash carrier were decorated." Androscoggin County website.

BAY CITY, Mich. Bay City cash store. Overhead wire system in mid-1950s. (Steve Gorton)

BAY CITY, Mich. Wendlands. Pneumatic tube system in mid-1950s. (Steve Gorton)

BISMARK, Oh. Choctaw Lumber Co., Commissary store. Lamson Air-Line system serving all departments. (Lamson brochure)

BOSTON, Mass. Jordan Marsh. Said to be probably the first Lamson installation in ca. 1880 in Abelson. "An early view of Jordan Marsh Company's Pneumatic Tube Cash Desk" on Portland's Rain of Glass website

BOSTON, Mass. S.S.Pierce. Pneumatic tube system. Had a "single power plant, capacity 25 independent stations". (Lamson sales brochure)

BOSTON, Mass. R.H.White. Pneumatic tube system. Described as a "mammoth store" and had a "triplicate power plant, capacity 400 independent stations". (Lamson sales brochure)

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. Howlands (dry goods). "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
• "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

CANTON, Oh. A downtown dept. store. Pneumatic tube system. See reminiscences.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. Clearfield Dry Goods Co. "For sale. Store equipment... Lamson cash system." The Progress (Clearfield, Penn.) 5 Feb. 1952, p.10

CLEARFIELD, Pa. Leitzingers. "Leitzinger's in Clearfield was at first a three- and then a five-floor department store. In the early days they used an electric car system to process sales. The cars took payment to the cash department. As employee Emily Swales demonstrates, change was made and the car was sent back to the appropriate department... Leitzinger's replaced the electric car system in 1951. The new pneumatic tube system used a vacuum to move metal carriers from floor to floor. The elaborate tube system ran throughout the five floors and was used even in the 1990s. In this photograph, Emily Swales is watching another employee process a sale." (Julie Rae Rickard. Clearfield County, Pa. Charleston SC: Arcadia, 2003, p.111, captions to photographs).

CLEVELAND, Oh. Halle Brothers dept store. Lamson pneumatic tube system. (Photograph in Ashley. Also Lamson brochure, 1952)

COLDWATER, Mi. J.B.Branch dept. store, 34 West Chicago. "I was always amazed at the cash carriers... I will always remember that little brass cup that carried money from one area of the store to another." Northwoods Coffee website

COURTHOUSE SQUARE, Monroe Co., Ind. J.C.Penney's department store. Pneumatic tube system. Senior Cybernet website

CUMBERLAND, R.I. Ann & Hope. "Had a carriage trolley for getting from the 1st to the 2nd floor". (Posting to comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup, 23 Apr. 2003)

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

DELAVAN, Wis. Bradley's department store. "A small old-fashioned hometown department store... The store first used a pulley cashier system. The office was on a balcony between the first and second floors." Gazette Extra (Janesville), 23/9/02

DELAWARE, Oh. Heseltines (later Uhlmans), Winter Street. Pneumatic tube system. Cashier was on first floor. Willis High School website

DETROIT, Mich. J.L.Hudson Co. "She went to work for the J.L.Hudson Co. to help support her parents during the Depression. She worked in the tube room, where customers sent cash through pneumatic tubes for change and receipts." Detroit Free Press, 25 Aug. 2003
• "Pneumatic tube system. The tube system enabled Hudson's to provide quick service on all sales. It took only a few seconds for a carrier to travel from any department to the central desk, where charges and cash transactions were authorized by a staff of eight. From command central in the Third Basement, the system (initially installed in 1916 and later expanded) traveled up to the 17th Floor. The system was operated by one 120-horsepower and one 60-horsepower blower, both in the Third Basement. These blowers provided the pressure to operte 170 tubes (which handled 1,500 carriers) throughout the store." Marianne Weldon and Michael Hauser. Hudson's: Detroit's legendary department store. (Charleston SC: Arcadia, 2004) p.20 (caption)

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. Farmer Store. "The popular department store at that time [1940s] was The Farmer Store, which had the old pneumatic tube system that took your money from one floor to the other." Downtown Eau Clare business retention and recruitment

EVANSVILLE, In. Bon Marche. Lamson pneumatic system. (Lamson brochure, 1952)

FALL CREEK, Wis. Mercantile. Pneumatic tube system. "Grannie Annie" posting to Homespun-L, 18 Jan. 02

FITCHBURG, Mass. Chamberlain & Hunters(?). "A Lamson rapid cash railway is being put into Chamberlain & 'Huntress' new store, the opening of which will have to be delayed." Fitchburg Sentinel, 20 Mar. 1896, p.2

FITCHBURG, Mass. Goodnow Co. "The Goodnow company, operators of nine stores, opened the last addition to their list early this morning. Their store in this city, under the opera house, is now ready for business... There are 20 plate glass cases .. and a Lamson cash railway or store service will be shortly installed." Fitchburg Sentinel, 14 Aug. 1902, p.6

FOND DU LAC, Wis. Ediths, 9 South Main Street. Pneumatic tube system still there in 2004. (M.Bennett)

FRENCH LICK, In. Star Store. Overhead tube system connecting to wire-enclosed office in centre of store. In 1942 the assistants had cash registers but used the tube system for change and approval of orders or credit. Beatty Family Newsletter

GLOUCESTER. Mass. William G. Brown (dry goods), 186-188 Main Street, the "Boston store". "The business premises comprise a finely-appointed, spacious store, with a rapid cash railway system." (J.R.Pringle. History of the town and city of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, 1892, p.331). "I can even now hear in my mind the sounds of the sales papers being routed through the air tubes that were located all over the store." Cape Ann website

GREEN BAY, Wis. Cohens, corner of Jefferson and Main Streets. "Pneumatic tubes that whisked the sales slip and customer's money up to the balcony in the back." Green Bay Press-Gazette, 11 Apr. 2004

GREENFIELD, Mass. Ann August women's clothing store. Pneumatic tube system up to 1997. Two floors only and "the system was not really used that much." Building since sold. (Jeff)

GREENSBURG, Penn. Royers, Main Street. "The third department store of local origin was Royer's, the newest and most fashionable, with an art deco façade and (of particular fascination to children) a pneumatic tube system that shot sales slips up and across the ceiling. Whenever anyone of my age recalls Royer's, they invariably remember the swoosh and clatter of secret messages sent through those tubes." William Severini Kowinski: The malling of America: travels in the United States of shopping (New York: Morrow, 1985) p67.

HARRISBURG, Pa. Dives, Pomeroy's and Stewart, Fourth and Market Streets. "We liked to watch the little carriages on wires that were sent from the various counters to the store cashier... Later Pomeroy's installed a pneumatic tube system" Robert Neubaum's website

HARTFORD, Ct. G. Fox & Co. Lamson pneumatic system. (Lamson brochure, 1952)

HINSDALE, NH. Wordens. "The Worden Company have this week put in a Lamson Cash Carrier into their store. Vermont Reformer, 8 Mar. 1895

HOLYOKE, Mass. Thos S. Childs. Baldwin system. "Used them for years and find them satisfactory." (Testimonial in Baldwin advertisement, 1925)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind . Stouts Shoes, Massachusetts Avenue. Baldwin Flyer basket system made by J.L.Baldwin Conveyor Co. in 1928 and said by them to be the only one in active use. The store dates from 1886. Indianapolis Star 27 July 2003 and Inc.com magazine, 15 Sep. 1998

IRONTON, Oh. D.C.Davies, Second and Lawrence streets. "The largest mechanical carry-cash system .. where overhead wires came through the walls of the three large rooms - the dry goods department, the ready-to-wear and the millinery department." Herald Dispatch, 21 Jan 1996

IRONTON, Oh. H.J.Keiser & Sons. "The package baskets on a wire were first used in Ironton at the H.J.Keiser & Sons Dry Goods in 1902. That store was the middle room of the arcade building, with twin entrances on Second and Third Streets." Herald Dispatch, 21 Jan 1996

IRONTON, Oh. One Price Clothing House (OPCH). "Mr Brumberg has put up a new contraption .. which saves many steps for the clerks. It is a cash and carry wire apparatus in the store that makes change for the clerks making sales without having to walk to the office. By springing a lever, a little metal box suspended from wheels shoots on a wire with money to the office where the bookkeeper makes correct change and shoots back the money. Customers in the busy stores see the little containers buzzing overhead like birds. Our town is getting more like New York every day." Lawrence Register, 1 Sep. 1887

IRONWOOD, Mich. O'Donnell-Seamens (dept store). "The installation of a pneumatic cash carrier tube system has been completed at the O'Donnell-Seamens department store. The new equipment, the first of its type in the Upper Peninsula, was installed by local workmen under the supervision of a company man." Ironwood Daily Globe, 23 Jun 1958, p.4, "20 years ago"

KEENE, NH. W.P.Chamberlains. "First overhead cash system in the city installed in W.P.Chamberlain's store." Frank Whitcomb and Simon G.Griffin. A history of the town of Keene from 1732 (Sentinel, 1904) p. 691

KENNEBEC, Maine. Fowler & Hamlen (dry goods). "The aspect in and around Fowler & Hamlen's dry goods store is becoming quite metropolitan. The latest enterprise.. is the adoption of Lawson's [sic] cash railway system, the purpose of which is to facilitate making change with customers, and to carry all the money received by the clerks to the cashier's desk. As arranged at present each counter has a money draw [sic], and the clerks make change from there. Under the new arrangement a miniature railway system, with branches connecting with each of the eight counters.

KITTANNING, Pa. Gault department store. "The Gault department store was the first of its kind in Kittanning, and the pioneer in the adoption of the cash system." Armstrong County Pa: her people, past and present. J.H.Beers & Co., 1914, pp.602-603

LACONIA, NH. O'Sheas. Pneumatic tube system. See reminiscences

LANCASTER, Pa. Watt & Shand, King Street. "The first to employ a cash carrier tube system (1915)." Lancaster online website. The shop closed in 1995 and now only the front remains (Tom Bates).

LAWRENCE, Mass. Cross (dry goods). "A small shop on the main commercial street". "After a transaction was completed, cash was deposited in a small brass container, and with a push of a button, it whizzed up to the balcony on overhead wires. We never tired of watching this marvel of technology. Aunt Florence was the cashier. She removed the cash and sales slip from its container, spindled the slip and put the money in a small safe; then she sent the container down for another trip." Andover Townsman 19 Dec 2002

LEXINGTON, Mass. Chadwicks, Lexington Street. "In order to see one of these railways today, one only has to visit Chadwicks ... where one is on display." Waltham Museum website.

LOWELL, Mass. Smith Hardware Co., 20 Market St. "Articles for sale... Cash carrier - Lamson rapid system; cheap." Lowell Sun, 18 Jan. 1934, p.71

MADISON, Wis. Baron Brothers. "We have used the Baldwin Flyer for the past ten years or better and are very much satisfied with the service it has given us." (Testimonial in Baldwin advertisement, 1925)

MANCHESTER, NH. McQuades, Elm Street. Established in 1939 and closed 29 June 2002. "The sales floor had no cash registers. 'When you bought something, the clerks would send the money upstairs through pneumatic tubes.' The store later changed their format to keep up with the times." HippoPress.com website

MANITOWOC, Wis. Schuettes department store, 804 Jay Street. Pneumatic tube system. Closed 1994. Manitowoc website

MANCHESTER, N.H. McQuade, Elm Street. "When you bought something, the clerks would send the money upstairs through pneumatic tubes... The shop later changed their format to keep up with the times." It closed on 29 June 2002. Hippo Press, 27 June 2002

MANSFIELD, Oh. Lantels? "The same performances .. have occurred several times in the Boston store and also at Lentels[?] where there are cash package carriers." Mansfield News, 12 Dec. 1903, p.5

MARION, Oh. Marion Bazar. "The rear balcony is devoted to the marking department, cashier's desk, etc., the store having been provided with the new cash carrier service." Marion Star, 9 Nov. 1895, p.5

MILLERSBURGH, Ohio. Mayers, dry goods merchants. "Various departments of general dry goods, carpets, cloaks, millinery, groceries .. all fitted out with cash-railways". RootsWeb website

MILWAUKEE, Wis. Schusters, ?Mitchell Street. Pneumatic tube system in 1930s. Don's Depot website

NEW HAVEN, Ct. Malleys. "Pneumatic tubes that ran overhead". Sir Froggie's Positive News Network and Enchanted Self website

NEW HAVEN, Ct. 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 KENSINGTON, Pa. Kingensmith Hardware. Wire system. (David Stumpf)

NEWPORT, R.I. William Sherman (dry goods), 135 & 137 Thames Street. "At the far end is a commodious office, which is the cashier's den, with every sales point in the store connected with it by the most improved cash carrier system." Newport Journal, 4 Oct. 1912

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. Ann August women's clothing store. Pneumatic tube system up to 1997. Extended over two five-storey buildings. Office and blowers were on top floor . Building is now condominiumized. (Jeff. Also Martha Gallagher in alt.folklore.urban newsgroup, 18 April 2001.)

NORTH MANCHESTER, In. Lew Urschel (dry goods). "When you bought, the charge slip and your money went zinging to a dim back balcony where an office girl recorded the sale and sent your change back down the humming wires. Later this charming system was discarded for more efficient cash registers." Newsletter of North Manchester Historical Society XXV (2) May 1998

NORWICH, Pa. Joseph Hull's department store. Overhead cash carriers. Store opened in 1908 and was said to be the largest in N.E. Pennsylvania. Smethport History website

NORWICH, Pa. Porteous & Mitchell, Water Street. "Our leading department store... There were no cash registers, but a system of hydraulic tubes that traveled throughout the store. Any sales transaction would be sent in a vacuum-type cylinder to the financial office on the top floor where the change would be sent back with receipt of purchase." 1930s. The store had five floors. Norwich Bulletin

PAWTUCKET, R.I. John Jolly, milliners, 250 Main Street. "His store is very spacious, 30 x 100 feet in dimensions, having every facility at hand for the successful transaction of business .. including automatic cash carriers." (Industries and wealth of the principal ports in Rhode Island. New York:A.F.Parsons, 1892. p.202)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. W.F.Bryan (shoes). Lamson brochure shows baskets being raised to carriers operating below a high ceiling.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Hallahan (shoes). Lamson brochure shows "a well planned central desk" serving a basket system.

PHILADELPHIA (?), Pa. Marshall Field. Pneumatic tube system, installed 1893. Xroads website

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Sears, Roebuck & Co. Lamson pneumatic system. (Lamson brochure, 1952)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Sharpless Brothers, Chestnut Street. Cash ball system in 1885. Tissandier's Journal

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Strawbridge & Clothier, 8th/Market streets. Pneumatic tube system. W.C.Fields (b.1880) worked there as a runner for three months, carrying money and orders from one department to another, until the system was installed. (W.C.Fields Fan Club website). "Strawbridge's actually used these tubes until fairly recent times [f]or large denomination bills. (Quincunx in posting to nyc.transit newsgroup, 30/10/98). Photograph of many tubes (back of the tube room) behind the carpets department in Hendrickson and on Retail Memories blog.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Wanamaker's Grand Depot, 13th/Market Streets. The first store to use pneumatic tubes, 1880. (Golden book of the Wanamaker stores). "Wanamaker's unit had over 250 stations connected by 20 miles of tubes" (Hendrickson)

PITTSBURGH, Pa. Federal Supply Co. Baldwin Flyer. (Testimonial in Baldwin advertisement, 1925)

PITTSBURGH, Pa. Mannsmans, East Liberty. "I like the pneumatic tubes to the cashiers office. The clerks wrote out a sales slip and put it and you [sic] money into the tube. It went up to an office and your receipt and change came back. No cash register." Roseanne in posting to Paallegh-Memories-L, 10/7/01

ROCHESTER, Ind. Big Store, North Side, Public Square. "George Wallace has purchased the cash carrier apparatus of E.H.Murray and will install it in his big store north of the court house." Rochester Sentinel, 11/4/1907.

ROCHESTER, N.H. J.C.Penney, North Maine Street. Wire system. Main office was on 2nd floor. Now occupied by Jan May Chinese restaurant. Fosters Sunday Citizen, 14 Apr. 02.

ROCKVILLE, Ind. The Elephant, 13-14 Ohio Street. "The largest clothing and furnishing-goods store in the place... He [Edward Brubeck] also has a cashier, and uses the Standard Cash Carrier system. Portrait and biographical record: Montgomery, Parke & Fountain counties, Indiana (Chapman Bros., 1893)

SAGINAW, Mich. J.W.Ippel (dry goods), Court & Michigan. Moved into building in 1905. "The dry goods store had wooden floors and overhead tracks that made a clicking sound throughout the store. Along the tracks ran cash cars carrying sales receipts and money to the office. The cash car then returned to the sales clerk and customer with change. In 1948 the system was replaced with pneumatic tubes. The building was destroyed by fire on January 29, 2002. Roberta Morey: Saginaw in vintage postcards (Charleston, SC:Arcadia, 2004)

SALEM, Mass. Daniel Low jewelry and gift store, corner of Washington & Essex Streets, North Shore. "Vestiges of its pneumatic tube system .. appear on the first floor and in another small office." North Shore website

SALEM, Mass. It's a Crewel World, 231 Essex Street. "The fixtures are all antique and there is still a Tube System in the store which sends your payment to a central room where the cashier makes the change and sends it back to you in the tubes. They use registers now but can use the tubes." (Sharon G. in posting to rec.crafts.textiles.needlework newsgroup, 22/11/96)

STAMFORD, Conn. 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.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. I.Brills. "A man from Chicago is here putting in a cash railway system in M.Clifford's and I.Brill's Son's stores." Stevens Point Daily Journal, 9 Sep. 1905, p.5

STEVENS POINT, Wis. M.Cliffords. See above

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. A.Herz, 646-652 Wabash Avenue. Built 1906-7. Pneumatic tube system. Wabash Valley Profile

TOLEDO, Oh. Earl A. Hulce. "We are so well satisfied that, if we could not get another Flyer, you could not buy ours back for five times its cost. It is perfect.' (Testimonial in Baldwin advertisement, 1925)

TRENTON, N.J. S.S.Lee. "S.S.Lee has been making some very important changes in his stores, Nos. 123 and 125 North Broad street. He has taken out the old ball system and replaced it with the new Lamson rapid cash carrier which greatly facilitates business." Trenton Times, 4 Apr. 1890, p.2

TYRONE, Pa. Lugg & Edmunds. Pneumatic tube system in 1950s. Tyrone's Community Information Center

WARREN, Penn. Printz. "Printz Co. today announced plans for extensive interior remodelling of its Warren store at 214 Second avenue... A pneumatic tube system for cash and making change will also be installed." Warren Times-Mirror, 19 Jul. 1950, p.1

WATERBURY, Ct. 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, Ct. 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)

WAUKESHA, Wis. J.C.Penney (dept. store). "Pneumatic tube system speeds Penney service. More than 5,000 feet of tubing links the J.C.Penney department store together. It is the recently installed pneumatic tube cash system.
When a clerk makes a sale, he places the money and sales slip in a small brass "bullet" which speeds through the tubing at 35 feet per second to the cashier's desk. There the correct change is made and sent back to the clerk in a few seconds. The system is powered by a 10 h.p. motor.
Eighteen sending and receiving stations are located throughout the store. At the cashier's desk where all tubes terminate are facilities for four cashiers, assuring the customers of no waiting." The store first opened on 13 June 1940 and re-opened after remodelling and enlargement on 7 April 1949. Waukesha Daily Freeman, 6 Apr. 1949, p.17

WELLSBORO, Penn. A.W.Lugg. "A.W.Lugg has his store fitted with the cash carrier system. Waldo proposes be ahead of any of the other merchnts in the vicinity in the way of store fixtures." Wellsboro Gazette, 6 Apr. 1899, p.2

WOBURN, Mass. J.F.McGraths department store, Main Street. "Overhead apparatus... The small box returned to the department." Old Woburn website

WOONSOCKET, R.I. James M. McCarthy, dry goods store, 193 Main Street. Cash carrier system. (Industries and wealth of the principal ports in Rhode Island. New York:A.F.Parsons, 1892. p.247)

XENIA, Mass. Dry goods store. "Here overhead wires were first installed for carrying money to the cashier and the change back again: the clerk at your end hung up her little brass box and pulled a wire, and away it sped, clicking. Later, this same store was the first to change from wires to pneumatic tubes, which worked mysteriously out of sight: you could hear the brass cylinder coming, and turn in time to see it fall, kerchunk, into the basket." Helen Hooven Santmyer. Ohio town (Columbus: Ohio Univ. Press, 1962) p.35

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