The ad to the left was placed on page 3 of the July 15, 1926 edition of The Carbon County News. Though J. C. Penney had been around as a corporate entity since 1913, we know not when it came to Red Lodge and the Pollard Hotel, nor for how long it remained there.
James Cash Penney was born in Hamilton, Missouri. After graduating from high school, Penney worked for a local retailer. He relocated to Colorado at the advice of a doctor, hoping that a better climate would improve his health. In 1898, Penney went to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, who owned dry goods stores called Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. In 1899, Callahan sent Penney to Evanston, Wyoming, to work with Johnson in another Golden Rule store. Callahan and Johnson asked Penney to join them in opening a new Golden Rule store. Using money from savings and a loan, Penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to start his own store. Penney opened the store on April 14, 1902. He participated in the creation of two more stores and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, all stores were consolidated under the J. C. Penney banner. The so-called "mother store", in Kemmerer, opened as the chain's second location in 1904. It still operates, as of 2018, albeit with shorter hours than many other locations, and is closed on Sundays.
In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company, with William Henry McManus as a co-founder.
From Wiki
In 1902 Thomas F. Pollard purchased the hotel, renaming it the
Pollard Hotel. Since the Pollard family last owned the hotel, it has been variously known as
The Chief, The Tyler, and The
Cielo Grande. The hotel was purchased in September, 1991 by the Hotel Company of Red Lodge and fully restored. Two gathering rooms, The Gallery and the History Room, were created and a kitchen and dining room were created from what had been office space and a barber shop.
Pollard Hotel
Certainly a great deal of excitement must have been generated with the building of the first brick structure in Red Lodge in 1893. The Spofford Hotel was built at the point mid-way between the train passenger depot and the thickly settled portion of the city. It was described in the Livingston Herald as handsomely furnished in pine, hand-oiled and costing very close to $20,000.
Thomas F. Pollard took possession of the thirty-five room hotel in 1902, renaming it The Pollard and adding twenty-five rooms. There was a spacious lobby, dining room, bar room with card and billiard tables, well-equipped kitchen and a laundry, with bowling alley and barbershop in the basement.
The dining room was a lovely room in the early days with fine furnishings, high quality hotel linens, dishes, silverware and glassware. In the early days the hotel was noted for its excellent cuisine and specialized in broiled lobsters and other dishes suitable even to the most particular gourmets. The bar room was in front (it later became the Post Office). It had a beautifully carved mahogany bar. A popular feature before the First World War was the free lunch at midnight, served from a huge platter with a domed cover.
he Hotel's telephone number from about 1903 was "1". When the Bell people were making arrangements for their installations in Red Lodge, one of the "higher up" men got into a little trouble one night and was jailed. My dad bailed him out and he was grateful and told my father that the hotel would have the very first number.
This famous hotel has been the gathering place of political, theatrical and many celebrated personalities. Names such as William Jennings Bryan, the famed silver-tongued orator; General Nelson Miles, the Indian Fighter; William and Marcus Daly, the copper kings, dotted the early registers. Buffalo Bill Cody spent many an evening in the lobby swapping tales with local old timers. Calamity Jane would on occasion interrupt the quietness of this old lodging place and Liver Eatin’ Johnston, noted Indian scout, who lived here in the early days, occasionally frequented the establishment.
Another famous personality who visited the hotel was the Sundance Kid, Harry Longabaugh. Unfortunately, he visited with a gun in his hand. He robbed the bank, which was located on the corner of the hotel, while Pollard guests watched. The infamous robber was caught, but later escaped. Since that time, guns have been banned from the hotel.
In September of 1991, the Hotel Company of Red Lodge purchased The Pollard with the intention of making it one of the finest small hotels of the Rocky Mountain West. The hotel was fully restored, creating a hotel that embraced the memories of history while maintaining the comforts of today. All the exterior rooms were dismantled and all the windows, ceilings, carpets, furniture, draperies and linens were replaced.
From the Pollard Hotel