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ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
J. C. Penney's
117 E Main
201-203 E Main
Highway 26 South
1916
03
24 NEW STORE IN WATERTOWN. “The Golden Rule” is the name of a new store
which will open in the Strauss and Sette building in Watertown tomorrow, Saturday, March
25, 1916. The proprietors are J.C.
Penney Co. who own and operate 125 stores.
1924
-- -- BACK TO SCHOOL SALE
117 E Main
1925 PENNEY'S,
THE GOLDEN RULE, 117 E Main
1927
-- -- REMODEL
OF 201-203 E. MAIN
J. C. Penney Company will
occupy largest portion of Cole block
Renovation in preparation of J. C. Penney relocating from 117 E. Main
across Second St. to 201-203 E. Main. A Maas Brothers Construction project, 1927.
07 05 1928 <> The new Penney Company store will consist of
present quarters of the Olympia Candy Store and Bittner and Tetzlaff's
Drug Store [201 & 203 E. Main]. The main floor and the
second floor are to be used for the business.
A balcony is also to be constructed. The third store in the block [205 E. Main]
which now houses a fruit market will be taken over by the Olympia. The quarters of the Pythian Lodge located on
the top floor of the block will continue to be the lodge quarters. Bittner and Tetzlaff's
Drug Store will be moved to the building at Main and N. 2nd Streets [116 E.
Main] which is now occupied by the National Tea Co. The National Tea has purchased the building
located at 2nd and Main streets [117 E. Main] which is now occupied by the
Penney store.
1936 DOLL
BUGGY PARADE, CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
1944 MONTGOMERY WARD, KRESGE’S AND PENNEY’S
1950
08 29 BACK-TO-SCHOOL MOVIE PARTY
1953
08 21 BACK-TO-SCHOOL MOVIE PARTY
Nearly 900 kids attended the Classic
Theater for a Roy Rogers western, three cartoons and two comedies, sponsored by
J. C. Penney store. Pictured lined up on
west side of Penney store, corner of E. Main and S. Second streets, preparatory
to leaving for the theater.
1959
03 04 A remodeling program which included new
decorating, new fixtures, enlarging departments and increased office space has
just been completed by the Watertown J. C. Penney Co. store. A gain of 50 square feet of selling space was
accomplished on the second floor by moving the office to vacant space in the Kresge building.
At the same time the maze of tubes centering in the cashier's office
were removed and replaced with cash registers in each department. WDT
1969
03 04 ROTARY
CLUB PRESENTER
Roy Pfeiffer, former Penney store
manager, William O’Herrin, Wisconsin Telephone
manager, Mayor A. E. (Mike) Bentzin
1972
Nov 
1983
06 28 The J. C. Penney
Store, located at 201 Main Street, will move this fall to the former Schuler
Super Valu building, adjacent to ShopKo, 701 South Church Street, according to
James Frisch of Milwaukee, developer of the South Church Street property. Frisch said, “We have entered into a lease
agreement with the Penney people on that location. We expect remodeling work in the new building
will get underway this summer and the store should move into its new quarters
this fall.” The Schuler store became
vacant earlier this month when Ed Schuler opened his new Pick ‘n' Save store at
the north end of the shopping center.
10 06 The new Penney's Store on highway 26
south will open for business and celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Nov.
9, at 9 a.m., according to Larry Dodd, manager of the store. Ken Clausen, former manager of Penney's, and
other officials will attend the grand opening.
The new facility will open at the former site of Schuler's Food
Store. It is now located at 201 East
Main Street. Dodd said the new store
will double the amount of space for merchandise and there will be “an enlarged
merchandise mix in all departments.”
11 07 Penney's will have a bright new look in
a new facility starting Sunday when the new store on highway 26 south opens for
business. The old store at 201 East Main
Street will close its doors for the last time today. Grand opening for the new store is set for
9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, when city officials and other dignitaries will be
on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Participating at the opening will be Mayor Ken Thiel, Chamber of
Commerce President Reno Sukow, Miss Watertown, and other city officials. Mike Ashpole of the regional office,
Schaumburg, Ill., and Dale Myhre of the district office, Davenport, Iowa, will
attend as well as managers of other Penney's stores from the area. WDT
1984
05 05 GRADE OPENING OF KLINE’S (former Kresge and J C Penney bldg.)
Ralph
Adams, manager of Kline's Department
Store in Watertown since
1968, has retired, and is being succeeded by Norman Weirick, a member of the Kline's
management team for the past 18 years. The
firm also announced that on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week
a special grand opening sale will be held at the store, heralding completion of
the remodeled and expanded store at its new location. The new store, completely remodeled
and redecorated, now encompasses the entire locations of the former JC Penney Store and the SS Kresge Store. Kresge's has left the city and Penney's
is now located in the ShopKo building complex.
WDT
1992
11 27 PENNEY’S TO CLOSE
Watertown’s
J. C. Penney Store, a part of the Watertown retail community for many years,
will close its doors in late 1993. The
announcement was made today by Karen Steffen, district manager for J. C. Penney
Stores in this area. She said
current plans call for the store to be closed on or about Nov. 20, 1993. Until that time the store will continue with
business as usual. The firm will operate
the catalog department as part of the business until the store closes and plans
to find a new location for it after the closing.
1997
07 05 EMPLOYEES TO REMINISCE
The J.
C. Penney Co. has been gone from Watertown for several years, but the memories
lingered when 46 past and full-time employees met to reminisce at Plattdeutscher Hall.
The idea of a reunion became a reality after Ruthie Pugh and Bonnie Gallup
initiated the event and started contacting people. With the help of Lois Bartz
and Donna Koser, former employees responded with enthusiasm. Old acquaintances were renewed during the
social hour, followed by dinner. Interesting and humorous incidents that
happened over the years were recalled.
WDT
2009
03 02 Penney catalog service returns J. C. Penney,
for many years an anchor store in downtown Watertown and later in the South Church
Street shopping complex, will return to Watertown next month in the form of a
catalog service. A J. C. Penney Catalog
Service Center will be located in Draeger’s Floral and Gifts, 616 E. Main St. Operated by Palmer and Judith Draeger, the
catalog merchant center will offer shop-at-home and online catalog ordering
services beginning April 28. Orders may
be picked up at the service center or delivered directly to homes or
offices. Copies of the spring and summer
catalogs will be available when the service center opens for business on April
28. WDT
Cross
References:
Gerda Allermann,
30 year employee
Rememberances:
+ Juhl
photography where I work was part of JC Penny; so many stories in those
places. The building we are in actually
has an underground tunnel that was dug and constructed during the prohibition
to transport alcohol under the buildings.
It’s pretty cool.
+ Made our
clothes and would go to Penney's to buy fabric.
The sewing section was in the balcony area.
+ I
used to love trying on hats on the third floor.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin