Utah Westerners

February Announcement for the Utah Westerners

March 8, 2013 at 6:45 pm kenttschanz Leave a comment

J. C. PENNEY AND HIS MANY UTAH CONNECTIONS

LINDA THATCHER

Friday, May 9, 1969 was proclaimed “J. C. Penney Day” by Utah’s governor, Calvin R. Rampton. Penney was “not just passing through;” he had established and maintained his Utah connections for the past sixty years. After graduating from high school, James Cash Penney worked in a dry goods store in Hamilton, Missouri, but moved to Colorado in 1897 for health reasons. He became involved with the Golden Rule Mercantile Company and within a decade he had acquired ownership of the company. In 1909 he moved to Salt Lake City to set up a corporate headquarters and lived there for six years before relocating to New York. In 1913, all his stores were consolidated under the J. C. Penney banner.

Utah Westerner, Linda Thatcher, will discuss Penney’s family, including his first wife, Berta A. Hess, who is buried in Salt Lake’s Mt. Olivet Cemetery and his second wife, Mary H. Kimball, who was born in Salt Lake City. She will also illustrate his community involvement; for example, he was a member of Wasatch Lodge #1 of the Free and Accepted Masons of Utah and often participated in their meetings. Thatcher will also talk about the larger J. C. Penney Company, which incorporated in Utah, and the opening of Penney stores throughout Utah and the role they played in the local communities.

Linda Thatcher earned a Bachelor of Science and master’s degree from Utah State University as well as a master’s from BYU in Library Science. She worked for Utah State History from 1975 to 2007 as the Collection Manager. She has written several articles and co-edited two books: Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History and Women in Utah History: Paradigm or Paradox? Since retiring from the Historical Society, she served as the co-director of a private history organization for three years and is currently a volunteer at the Utah State Archives. She became interested in J. C. Penney (an Avenues resident) when she was writing a monthly historical article for the Avenues Newsletter.

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