“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!
Buy the Book!
To buy the new
book For the Love of Murphy’s, please visit your local
bookstore.
The book
should be available from Barnes & Noble, Borders and other
retailers. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $34.95.
If the book is
not in stock, any bookstore may order it via ISBN number 978-0-271-03370-9.
If your
bookstore is unwilling to order it for you, then please order directly
from Penn
State University Press. Call
1-800-326-9180 and ask for the special promotional discount “JT08.” The
promotional price is $23.80 plus shipping, handling and Pennsylvania
sales tax (if applicable).
For more
information, check out our frequently asked
questions.
Correction: Due
to some mixed-up communications, this event will not take place
on June
13. The error was mine, not Borders. My apologies. —Jason Author
Jason
Togyer will
be signing copies of For the Love of
Murphy’s at the Borders Books and Music Store, 200 Mall Blvd.,
Monroeville, Pa., from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 13, 2009. Call (412)
374-9772 for information or directions. (Posted May 25, 2009)
PCN’s “PA Books”
with Brian Lockman featured For the Love of Murphy’s on April
26. Download
the podcast. (Posted April 27, 2009)
An article in the
September 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review which
supposedly described the “biggest business failures of all time” blamed
G.C. Murphy Co. employees for the bankruptcies and subsequent failure
of Ames Department Stores Inc. Tom Hudak, former chairman of the board
of Murphy’s, one-time board member of Ames, and member of the board of
G.C. Murphy Co. Foundation, has set
the record straight. (Posted April 2, 2009)
The last remaining
Woolworth five-and-10 stores in the United Kingdom have closed, a victim of the worldwide economic
downtown. The stores were originally part of the American F.W.
Woolworth Co. but had long since been spun off into an independent
company. The last Woolworth five-and-10 stores in the United States
closed in 1997. (Posted Jan. 6, 2009)
The city of Wheeling,
W.Va., has issued $715,000 in bonds to purchase the former G.C. Murphy
Co. store and several neighboring properties, reports the Wheeling Intelligencer. (Posted
Jan. 6, 2009)
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