Oneida Furniture Company Cash Register

Hello friends. Hope you are ready for another edition of artifact of the week. This fully functional National cash register, dating from the early 1900s, was bought by Scott County native Arlie Lay for use in his furniture store in Stearns, Kentucky. Lay and his partner partner Virgil Simpson operated several furniture stores throughout East Tennessee and Kentucky, but always had their base in Oneida. Lay opened his first store in 1920 after working for the Pineville Furniture Company. His store was located on Depot Street in the Oneida Coal Company building. Lay boldly moved his store on Main Street during the dark days of the Great Depression in 1932, and the store remained there for several years. Arlie Lay always knew how to draw a crowd to his store, as evidenced by the advertisement, and in the 1950s he had the first television set in Scott County. Some local residents talk of parking their cars on Main Street in order to see the new appliance in the store window.

Come to the museum to see this cash register in action.

Information provided by the Lay family

This cash register, which is still functional, was used by Arlie Lay in his store in Stearns, KY.

The Oneida Furniture Company store was originally located on Depot Street in the Oneida Coal Company building.

This advertisement was printed for the Oneida Furniture Company reopening on Main Street.

Arlie and Orange Lay