Creation Date

1940 – 1960

Description

Cash register used in Stinson's Corner Drug. It was first used by Oscar Helgeson in Helgeson's grocery store. After the 1942 fire in the Southeast corner of Minnesota Avenue and Franklin Street, Hugh Stinson bought the cash register and moved it to his new location at the Minton Hotel.
The register can only ring up $9.99 at a time, anything that costs $10 or more must be rung several times. It also does not calculate sales tax, clerks would write down the tax amount. According to Jim Stradtman, the tax collector said that Hugh Stinson was honest, so he always stopped at Corner Drug to see how much tax Stinson collected and used that to gage how much tax everyone else should have collected in town. When Jim Stradtman bought the drugstore, he bought a new cash register that calculated the tax - and paid more tax in one month than Stinson did all year.