Jul. 5—J.C. Penney’s Store moved to this new location (Western Building at Third and Main) in 1926. The first Penney’s store in Mitchell opened in 1917 was located at 215 N. Main (the second Penney’s store to be opened in South Dakota). This store had a unique way of collecting money for customers’ purchases, a cashier was on the balcony and each department had a zipline station. The salesman would put the cash in the cup on the zipline and send it to the balcony.
The cashier would remove the cash, record the sale, make change and send the cup back to the floor. Many offices occupied by doctors, dentists and lawyers were on the second and third floor. Penney’s built a new building in 1960 at 412 N. Main St. The building behind this was the newspaper office then known as the Evening Republican.
— Researcher Pam Range