J. C. Penny’s at the corner of Moody and Pine Street. How about the strange way you paid for an item. Penny’s used the “Lamson Cash Railway.” The purpose of the cash railway was to transport cash from sales clerks on the floor to a central cashiers ’office on the upper level. The cash was transported in metal cars along the wires hanging overhead. The office would then record the sale, and send the change and receipt back to the sales clerk in the same manner. This system was developed and invented by the late William S. Lamson of Lowell, Massachusetts in 1878. By 1900, the company had reached peak production and had customers throughout the world.