| |
Antiques at Lincoln Park -
822 8TH ST
 Print Listing
Historical Name -
J.C. Penney
Style -
Modern Movements
Built Year -
1928
State ID -
5WL4134
Description -
Large, one-story (with basement and mezzanine) rectangular, corner, brick commercial building with flat roof with stone coping; western section of building is lower than eastern section. Façade and part of west wall clad on upper wall and under windows with colored metal panels. Central, inset entrance area with double glazed metal frame doors, transoms, sidelights. Floor at entrance is clad with tile. Band of horizontal, grooved metal above windows and entrance. Arched opening at entrance with curved fabric awning. Awnings shelter display windows. Arched stuccoed panel above entrance, as well as large stuccoed columns. Large metal frame plate glass display windows. Second entrance at east end of façade has glazed metal frame door with transom and sidelights. West wall composed of buff-colored, stacked, wire-drawn brick. Entrance on west has slightly projecting stone bands next to inset double metal frame glazed doors with sidelights and transom. Curved awning above entrance. Tile floor at entrance. Large metal frame plate glass display window south of entrance has brick under window.
Historical Background -
This building was erected about 1928 as a clothing store, the J.B. Byars Store. Within a year, the Byars store merged with the J.C. Penney Co., which operated a store here for many years. James Cash Penney moved to Denver in 1897 and began working at Joslin's, local dry goods store. He moved to Longmont and bought a butcher shop, an unsuccessful venture. He then worked in a dry goods and clothing business owned by T.M. Callahan in Longmont. Callahan told Penney of his plan to open dry goods stores in different towns in Colorado and Wyoming. The idea of a chain of stores appealed to Penney. In 1902 he became a partner in a new "Golden Rule Store" in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Customers were impressed at the store's low prices and wide selection, all sold on a cash and carry basis. In 1907 Penney bought out his partners, and by 1912 had opened thirty-four stores throughout the West. In 1912 the business changed its name from Golden Rule to J.C. Penney, and it incorporated the following year. Penney moved his headquarters to New York City. By 1916 he had opened 127 stores, and by 1929 there were 1,450 J.C. Penney's in the United States.
In 1927 J.B. Byars, who owned 116 chain stores in the West, offered to sell his stores to Penney. In 1929 the Byars store in Greeley at 822 8th Street became a Penney's store. O.G. Edwards managed the store. The 1929 stock market crash resulted in a dramatic decline in Penney's stock, and J.C. Penney lost $40 million. The company survived the Depression and continued as one of the country's most popular department stores. In 1959, the Penney store became part of a small downtown Greeley building boom. The store expanded into the site formerly occupied by the First National Bank (the bank building was demolished and First National moved to a new building three blocks south). The old store was remodeled and the new section was completed at a cost of $750,000. The grand opening for the expanded store was held on 4 August 1960, and the manager of the store was Dick Bentley. The store was extensively remodeled again in 1973.
|