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“When that great trial lawyer
Clarence Darrow described a corporation as ‘a legal entity, with no
soul to feel,’ he proved conclusively that he had never heard of
Murphy’s. The G.C. Murphy Company has a soul. You—our veterans. May
your spirit spread.”
—Jim Mack, chairman
and president, G.C. Murphy Co.,
speech to G.C. Murphy
Veterans' Club, 1965
Welcome to a website
dedicated to the legacy of the G.C. Murphy Company and its employees,
who served customers from the Canadian border to the Rio Grande with
pride and distinction for four generations.
Here you’ll find a brief history of the company, a list of cities and towns where it operated, and information about the new book (on sale now!) that tells a new generation about Murphy’s, the important role it played in the lives of millions of Americans, and the stories of the people who made it great.
Maybe you just knew it as the “five and 10” ... or Morgan & Lindsey’s ... or Murphy’s Mart.
If you lived in Texas,
perhaps you shopped at one of the department stores that Murphy’s
operated under the names of Cobbs, Bruners and Terry Farris.
Or maybe you or some member of your family got their first job at a Murphy’s. But chances are, if you lived in the eastern United States during the 20th century, chances are that there was a G.C. Murphy Company store near you!
For the Love of Murphy’s: The Behind-the-Counter Story of a Great American Retailer is available now from Amazon.com and other retailers. More details here. (Posted Nov. 7, 2008)
Humorist Jeff Kay, creator of the blog “The West Virginia Surf Report,” offers memories of teen-age pranks pulled in Murphy’s Mart No. 904 in Dunbar, W.Va. “It was quite a place in its era, at the forefront of the super-center concept where a person could theoretically purchase underwear, a club sandwich, an oil change, and bullets … And when I was a youngling my friends and I used that place like our own personal giant and incredibly cool playground.” (It’s somewhat off-color, but very funny. Did you pull pranks in Murphy’s Mart? The statute of limitations has now expired, so feel free to confess!) (Posted Nov. 7, 2008)
At least one former G.C. Murphy store played a role in the 2008 presidential election. The former store in downtown Aliquippa, Pa., now used as a community center, was a polling place. “It was wild,” Johnette Dinello, judge of elections, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “How many words can I use? Wild, wild, wild.” (Posted Nov. 5, 2008)
Andrea Rich of Chambersburg, Pa., writes that “trick-or-treaters these days are missing half the point of the event.” She remembers “standing on the warped wooden floor of the aisle in G.C. Murphy Co., or the ‘five and 10’ as my mom called it, one Saturday morning in mid-October and looking at stacks of square cardboard boxes that reached to the ceiling.” (Nov. 1, 2008)
Word has been received of the death of Ken Kromer Sr., former store manager in the Baltimore area. An avid model railroader and ham radio buff, Ken is survived by his wife, Elsie; son, Ken Jr.; and two grandchildren. (Grafton, W.Va., Mountain Statesman, Aug. 20, 2008)
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