James Cash Penney

Infobox actor
bgcolour =
name = James Cash Penney
birthdate = birth date|1875|9|16
location = Hamilton, Missouri,
United States
deathdate = February 12, 1971 (age 95)

James Cash Penney (born September 16, 1875 in Hamilton, Missouri, USA – died February 12, 1971 in New York City, USA) was a businessman and entrepreneur. In 1902, he founded the J.C. Penney stores.

After graduating from high school in Hamilton, Missouri, Penney went to work for a local dry goods merchant, then continued in that line of work after moving to Longmont Colorado for health reasons. In 1898, he began working in a small chain called the Golden Rule stores, and in 1902, the owners, Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, offered him a one-third partnership in a new store he would open. He invested $2000 and moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming to open a store there. He participated in opening two more stores, and when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907 he purchased full interest in all three stores. Penny hired Earl C. Sams as his first salesman in charge of running the Kemmerer store. Sams was quickly promoted to a management position and within a year he and Penney were partnering to open a new location in Eureka, Utah.

By 1912, there were 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company. In 1916, he began to expand the chain east of the Mississippi and during the 1920s, the Penney stores expanded nationwide, with 120 stores in 1920 (mostly still in the west) and 1400 stores by 1929.

Penney relinquished daily operating management of the company in 1917 to Sams, but remained as chairman of the board until 1946, and after that as honorary chairman until his death in 1971.

Penney was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.

Penney was a life-long Freemason, being Initiated into [http://www.wasatchlodge.org Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah] , on the 18th of April, 1911. [ [http://www.wasatchlodge.org/publish/james-jc-penny/ Wasatch Lodge No. 1 F&AM of Utah] ] [ [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/penney_j/penney_j.html Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon] ]

Financial crisis

By 1924, Penney was earning an income of more than $1.5 million dollars annually. [cite web|url=http://www.jcpenney.net/company/history/jcpbio/bio6.htm|title=J.C. Penney - Family and Philanthropies|accessdate=2007-04-13] The large income allowed Penney to be heavily involved in many philanthropic causes during the 1920s. Most of this work was halted when the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression left Penney in financial ruin. During this period Mr. Penney was able to borrow against his cash value life insurance policies to meet day-to-day payroll expenses for the stores.

The financial setbacks took a toll on his health. Penney checked himself into the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he was treated. After hearing the hymn [http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/God_Will_Take_Care_of_You/ "God Will Take Care of You"] (written by Civilla Durfee Martin) being sung a service in the hospital’s chapel, Penney became a born-again Christian. [cite web|url=http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0,1703,A%253D161090%2526M%253D50022,00.html|title=The Hymn That Saved J.C. Penney|accessdate=2007-04-13]

Penney later recovered financially and continued his involvement in numerous charitable works in the 1930s and 1940s. Penney founded the James C. Penney Foundation in 1954. The foundation was restructured in 1999 as the Penney Family Fund, and is no longer affiliated with J. C. Penney Co., Inc. or its corporate giving program. Today, the fund is part of the Common Counsel Foundation, an Oakland, California-based consortium of family philanthropic foundations and individual donors. The Penney Family Fund endows organizations in Oregon, California, and Washington state that work to advance human rights, community social, political, and economic empowerment, government accountability, and environmental sustainability. [http://www.commoncounsel.org/Penney%20Family%20Fund Penney Family Fund profile at Common Counsel Foundation website]

Affiliations

During the depression Penney teamed with Thomas J. Watson, President and Founder of IBM; Arthur Godfrey, the radio and TV personality; and Norman Vincent Peale, a minister, inspirational speaker, and author of The Power of Positive Thinking to form the first board of 40Plus, an organization that helps unemployed managers and executives.

Commemoration

The J. C. Penney Historic District in Kemmerer was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.

References

Further reading

Citation
last =Kruger
first =David Delbert
author-link =
publication-date =
date =
year =2008
title =J.C. Penney:Missouri Man, Wyoming Institution
periodical =Annals of Wyoming: The Wyoming History Journal
series =
publication-place =
place =
publisher =Wyoming State Historical Society
volume =80
issue =2
pages =20-36
url =
issn =
doi =
oclc =
accessdate =

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/walker/walker.htm "“Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C. J. Walker and J.C. Penney”", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]