Posted by Lyn on 09 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Chit Chat
“Give the Lady What She Wants”– Marshall Field
If you grew up near Chicago as I did, the name of the famous Chicago Department Store, “Marshall Field’s,” possessed an allure of fine shopping, elegance and class.
But I never realized until I was doing my research for BLESSED ASSURANCE that the department store concept was a 19th century social movement. No! I’m not kidding! In the emerging more urban culture, men had saloons to gather in daily but what social institution did “the ladies” have to go to?
Well, Marshall Field decided it should be his store! And he designed a place where every woman—by just walking through the door—became a “lady.” With a tea room to meet her friends for lunch or just a cup of tea and conversation. A place where a liveried boy opened the door for her and a store which boasted marble floors and Greek columns and sparkling display counters.
Needless to say, Marshall Field’s was a success. His guiding principles were: “best quality, attractively presented, customers received with courteous and considerate treatment. Nothing petty or little.”
Originally there were three partners: Potter Palmer, Marshall Field, and Levi Leiter in 1852.
Potter Palmer built the store at the corner of State Street and Washington for $350,000 (and that’s in gold standard money—whew!). The store had six stories and was made of limestone and Canaan marble with fronted Corinthian columns. It was finished in the summer of 1868. Field and Leiter rented it for the sum of $50,000 per year.
The gala opening was heralded by the “Chicago Tribune”: “The formal opening by Field, Leiter and Company of Potter Palmer’s new marble palace on the corner of Washington and State was the grandest affair of its kinds which ever transpired even in Chicago, the city of grand affairs.”
This is what I love about historical research. I’d been to Marshall Field’s many times since I was a child who pressed my nose up to their windows watching the exciting Christmas window displays that were a Chicago must see every December. And I never realized that it was part of a social movement!
Lyn,
Isn’t Chicago fascinating! I learned a lot just by reading Devil in the White City, which is a fascinating book detailing the World’s Fair and a serial killer during the late 1800s. All those old buildings are still standing and in use. Marshall Fields has those wonderful Christmas windows too. I saw them about four years ago when I visited my sister for Thanksgiving. This time we’ll go up to Milwaukee since she moved. *grin*
Great blog. Monica
November 9th, 2007 at 9:25 amHI Monica,
Well, you saw Marshall Fields in its last hurrah. It was bought out by Macy’s about two years ago–too much moaning in Chicago.
But I think Fields started to lose its aura of elegance when they started buying cheap items and sewing the Fields label into them. I had a college friend who worked in Elmhurst one summer in the 60’s and that was her job. I never bought another thing at Fields after she told me that!
November 9th, 2007 at 11:22 amBut I hated to see a Chicago landmark disappear.
BTW, Milwaukee’s a great town. Lots to see!