JC Penny

The Marketing Director of the Missouri Star Quilt company mentioned in our conversation that JC Penny was born in Hamilton, Missouri. That is why they were having JC Penny days. He shared that JC Penny had all the stores in the corporation with the exception of the JC Penny store in Hamilton, which was the 500th store and Mr. Penny owned that store separate from the corporation.  Well this store had been closed for years and that was one of the buildings Missouri Star Quilt had purchased and they were restoring. It sounded like they are going to do something to commemorate JC Penny.

 

J.C. Penney (JC Penneys). James Cash Penney was born on September 16, 1875, on a small farm outside Hamilton, Missouri. After graduating high school, James worked a variety of jobs. The one that influenced him the most was working as a clerk in a dry goods store, there he learned to be a merchant. He took what he learned and moved to Colorado and tried to build a business there but it was shady. in 1898, he went back to work at a dry goods store and the owners were so impressed by him, they offered him the chance to become a partner with them. He then moved his wife and son to Wyoming where he opened his first store in 1902 called the Golden Rule Mercantile Company. In 1904, he opened another store and soon the other owners, offered to sell him their share, which he accepted. By 1912, he has successfully opened and maintained a total of 34 Golden Rule Stores. In 1913, the name changed to J.C. Penney Company Incorporated. By 1915, there were 86 J.C. Penney stores throughout 13 states. By the early 1920s, there was a total of 197 stores from coast to coast. By 1971, there was a total of 1660 J.C. Penney stores. In 1917, he decided to step down from being the company's president and at the age of 42, he became the Chairman of the Board of the corporation. On December 26, 1910, James' wife, Berta, died of pneumonia. In 1916, James met his second wife-to-be, Mary Hortense Kimball but in 1924, she died suddenly and left him alone to raise thier son. In 1925, in her memory, he founded the J.C. Penney Foundation. It helped out agencies related to youth services, adoption agencies, guidance centers, libraries and schools. James then established a community for farming and named it Penney Farms in 1923, built especially for farmers to work and live until they were able to stand on their own. Nearby, he built a center for retired ministers, church workers and their families and dedicated it to his parents. James married a third time in 1926 to Caroline Bertha Autenreith. She bore him 2 children, Mary Frances and Carol Marie. During the stock market crash in 1929, he lost the J.C. Penney Foundation. After he recovered from this devastating loss, he was able to rebuild his foundation and in 1956, he released the James C. Penney Foundation to the world. On December 26, 1970, James fell in his apartment on Park Avenue and he suffered from a broken hip. Not long after this, he suffered a heart attack and died on February 12, 1971.

The Quilt Lady in Hamilton, Missouri

The clerk in the Store in Far West told us of a member family in Hamilton, Missouri. She said this family years ago were living in California and decided they wanted to move to a smaller town which they felt would be a better place to raise their children. These are members of the Church, so I assume they prayed about this and received promptings to do this. She said the family got out a map of the United States closed their eyes and one of the family members placed a finger on the map. That finger was pointing to Hamilton, Missouri, so they moved there. As I have mentioned before, these little rural towns in Kansas and Missouri are pretty and in many ways picturesque, but they are dying because of lack of jobs. All the jobs are in the city. This family moved to Hamilton and the father was a machinist and he ended up taking a job in St. Joseph which was a fairly lengthy commute. This family raised their children in this small town of about 1200 people. I am sure this active family would have been a real strength to the Church in this small community; knowing what the Branch in Mound City is like, I assume it is similar in Hamilton. Well, the mother, sister Doan had a love for quilting. Several of her grown children purchased some type of long arm quilting equipment for their mother. One of her sons was pretty good on the computer and set up a web site. They started getting calls and requests for pre-cut material; they had their mother make a number of videos which they posted on line. The videos were free, but the orders started coming in. I think they said this little company called the “Missouri Star Quilt Company” gets 4 million hits a month on their web site. The company is six years old, but they have stayed in this little town in Missouri and have grown to almost 100 employees. It has completely changed the prosperity of this little town and the way the citizens view the Church.

 

 These little towns typically have a main street down the middle of town, but often the storefronts are closed and the buildings are empty. We stopped in Hamilton just out of curiosity to visit the quilt company and it turned out they were having J.C Penny days. We found the quilt company store; our daughter Tara would like this, the sign above the door said quilt diva. Anyway, I met the marketing director for the company also a member of the Church and he shared a little of their story. He also explained that the company had purchased several of the empty buildings along Main Street and were in the process of restoring the buildings. They also were instrumental in opening several restaurants in town. Anyway it was a fun success story where members of the Church are making a difference.  The mom Jenny Doan has been on several major talk shows and broadcasts. I posted one of the newscasts of her below:

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/54502376#54502376