Locations - Canada

CALGARY, Abl. Hudson's Bay Company, corner of McTavish Street and Stephen Avenue. "In front of the office, 'the cash girl's stand' which made use of Whiting's cash railway system, was installed by Peddie and Erskine of Winnipeg." (Henry C. Klassen. Eye on the future: business people in Calgary and the Bow Valley, 1870-1900. Univ. of Calgary Pr., 2002, p.282)

CALGARY, Alb. Hudson's Bay Company, 200 8th Avenue S.W. Built 1912-13. Pneumatic tube system. Calgary Library website. [Not sure if this was a successor to the above.]

CARDSTON, Alb. W.H.Steed & Co. "Cardston merchant installs cash carriers. W.H.Steed & Co., Cardston's largest department store, are rearranging their office quarters and installing an up-to-date cash carrier system." Lethbridge Herald, 5 Apr. 1921, p.8

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI. Moore, McLeod and Co, drapers. Cash carrier in 1975. This England, Summer 1975.

CHESLEY, Ont. Liebacke and Heinmiller store. Wire system in use until 1960s, now in Bruce County Museum. (Bruce County website)

EDMONTON, Alb. Birks, Jasper Avenue/104th Street. Building opened 1929. Pneumatic tube system. Edmonton Real Estate Weekly vol. 20, no. 21, 23 May 2002

EDMONTON, Alb. Revillion Frères, 10221-104 Street. Pneumatic tube system. Store was built 1912-13.(Edmonton: Old Faces - New Places. Heritage Fair Research Package)

HALIFAX, NS. Eatons, Barrington Street. ?Pneumatic tube system. Nova Scotia Stamp Club Newsletter, 34(6), Feb. 2005, p.1

HALIFAX, NS. Robert Simpson, Chebucto Road. ?Pneumatic tube system. Nova Scotia Stamp Club Newsletter, 34(6), Feb. 2005, p.1

KINGSTON, Ont. Kingsmills (dept store), 130 Dundas Street. "Preserved to this day, to the delight of both shoppers and tourists, is the pneumatic steel and brass tube system used to carry paperwork and change throughout the store, a 21st century rarity. The precursor to today's cash registers, it's still an efficient way to exchange foreign currency, correct errors and authorize credit at a central cashier. And a trip from the first to the fourth floor takes only about 17 seconds." Furniture World Magazine website and Kingsmills' website

KITCHENER, Ont. Budds (dept store), 165 King Street West. Pneumatic tube system. "Of never ending entertainment to adults and children alike" (posting to soc.genealogy.uk+ireland newsgroup 20/11/1996). "The Kitchener store is one of the last in Ontario to use a pneumatic cash carrier system. It was installed 63 years ago. The Budds considered replacing it with electronic cash registers but abandoned the idea. 'Our system is faster and we use the time saved to spend with our customers'". (Ser-Charlap Family Newsletter vol.6,no.3, Sept. 1995)

LONDON, Ont. Kingsmills. "The present building .. dates to the 1930's... Other unique features of the building include a pneumatic tube system to send paperwork and change throughout the store." Kingsmills website

MEDICINE HAT, Alb. Marshall Hardware Co. "For sale.. one Lamson three point cash carrier, almost new, in first class condition. The MArshall Hardware Co., Limited, Medicine Hat, Alta." Lethbridge Herald, 8 Nov. 1909, p.4

MISSION CITY, B.C. Des Brisays department store. Opened in early/mid 1920s. Pneumatic tube system. Office was on second floor. Mission City website

MONTREAL, Que. Colonial House (dept store), St Catherine Street. "Colonial House opened on 21 April 1891, and newspapers were immediately lavish in their praise. 'A dry goods palace'', said the Montreal Gazette. 'A palatial store' was the headline of Montreal Star... Both articles commented on the novel system by which cash was conveyed to the main cashier's office in metal containers which travelled on an overhead system of cables operated by an electric motor. One writer commented that the system was as intriguing to men as it was to little boys... [caption:] Henry Morgan's Colonial House, the first major department store on St Catherine Street... Since the early 1970s it has been the Hudson's Bat Company." Alexandra Palmer (ed.) Fashion: a Canadian perspective. (Toronto: Univ. Toronto Press, 2004) p.206

MOOSE JAW, Sask. Joyner's General Store, 30 Main Street North. Cable system. In 2003 described as "the world's largest operational Lamson Cash Carrier System installed in 1915". It had over 1.000 feet of track on three levels. Shop closed in 1994 and became an Antiques Emporium. Photographs on Luxegen website. Very sadly the building burned down on New Year's Day 2004 and it was not known if anything could be salvaged. Leader-Post (Regina) 5 Jan. 2004.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. Cash Cable Café. "Still features the complicated cash carrier system used by department stores, before the invention of the till, that carried shoppers' cash by cable to the accountants upstairs. It's one of only two in the world still operating." (Presumably parts from Joyners' Store.) Destination Guides website

PONOKA, Alb. L.B.Matischs jewellery store, Railway Street. Built 1910. Later became Edwards grocery store and in 1928 James and Mace Brodys dry goods and ready-to-wear business. In 1978 became a restaurant. Pneumatic tube system. Ponoka website

PASPÉBIAC, Que. Charles Robin Co. (general store). This was the largest in the Robin chain. Cash ball system shown clearly in photograph of 1908. (Jersey Museum)

SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BELLEVUE, Montreal, Que. D'Aoust Store, 73 Sainte-Anne Street. 1924 Lamson cash carrier. "A must to see." Sainte-Anne website.

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. James Baird Ltd., Water Street. Lamson tube system. Report in Atlantic Guardian

STONY PLAIN, Alb. Jacob Millers General Store and Post Office. "The cash system used in this store consisted of a number of pulleys. The clerks would pulley the money up to the accountant on the top floor who would make the change and pulley the money back down again." Stony Plain Virtual Tour

SOUTHAMPTON, Ont. Bruce County Museum, 33 Victoria Street N.. Wire system, taken from Liebacke & Heinmiller's store, Chesley. (Bruce County website)

TORONTO, Ont. Eatons.
• "Eatons and Simpsons had vacuum tubes all over the place. The clerk stuck the money, cheque or credit card with the written order into the tube. It whooshed away and came back with your change moments or minutes later with a kerplunk into a basket. They still used it into the late 1950s for credit cards, cheques, large denomination bills or anything else those first NCRs could not handle. Many smaller stores also used them. 'Hownow' in posting to tor.eats newsgroup, 7 Feb. 2003.
• 'The mysterious Mr X' pointed out that Visa wan't introduced until 1968: earlier the store issued metal discs to credit customers.
• "I worked at Eaton's in the late 80's to early 90's and the pneumatic tubes were used to get change from the central cash, as well s depositing the day end cash... I believe the cah office was on the 6th floor and it was really the most efficient way to exchange money rather than schlepping up and down with a tube full of cash.' 'Missmouse' in postings to tor.eats, 7-8 Feb. 2003.
• 'Eaton's women at work on the pneumatic cash system.' Caption in Eaton's Fall/Winter catalogue 1894-95, p.4

TORONTO, Ont. Simpsons. See TORONTO: Eatons above.

WINDSOR, Nfld. Stewart's Groceries. Wire system. (Katherine Burgess)

WINNIPEG, Man. J.H.Ashdown Hardware Co., Main Street. "Wanted - girl for cash desk, cash carrier system." Manitoba Free Press, 23 Jul. 1917, p.11

WINNIPEG, Man. Archibald Wright. "The bankrupt sale... Bids on the Cash Carrier System.. and all other fixtures, are solicited." Manitoba Morning Free Press, 15 Dec. 1908, p.6