Goodbye, Old Friend
CHICAGO-- It became official on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 9 – the legendary Marshall Field's name is but a memory. As a kid growing up in Chicago, I recall taking the subway with my Mom and having a visit with Santa and a grown up christmas lunch in the Walnut room. That tradition was one I would continue into my adult years, with my children. And that famous clock, first erected in 1852, where people from around the world would gather each day.
The State Street flagship remains, with its iconic clock, the Walnut Room, and the windows that feature intricate craftsmanship during the holidays, but they are all now part of Macy's.
Here's a look back at some of the people who worked and shopped at Marshall Field’s, including Mayor Richard M. Daley’s comments from when the famous Fanny Mae State Street store’s candy kitchen that closed six years ago.
Marshall Field’s start in downtown Chicago goes back to the 1852 opening of a dry goods store by businessman Potter Palmer. Four years later, a young man named Marshall Field joined Palmer in the dry goods business, and later bought it out with partner Levi Leiter, according to the Web site Jazz Age Chicago.
Field and Leiter moved their store in 1868 to its current location at State and Washington streets. The original building was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and a replacement structure built on the same site also burned down two years later. But a third building was constructed between 1893 and 1915. That building is the legendary flagship store, at 111 N. State St.
Marshall Field’s became the first American department store to start a European buying office, open a dining room restaurant in-store, and start a bridal registry, according to the former Marshall Field’s Web site. Field’s own name is seen across the city – most notably at the Field Museum – and the John G. Shedd Aquarium is named for one of Field’s successors at the store.
Field’s later expanded throughout the suburbs, beginning in the late 1920s with branches in Evanston and Oak Park. Those stores both closed at the end of 1986, but dozens of others were opened in malls throughout the suburbs, and later in other states.
Dayton Hudson, later renamed Target, purchased Marshall Field’s in 1990, and in turn sold it to Macy’s parent company Federated in 2004. Just before the Macy’s name change, the Marshall Field’s name was attached to 61 stores in seven states, including another flagship in Minneapolis.
Until the very end, Field’s ran commercials with catchy jingles for two-day and 13-hour sales. And on some occasions, they even held a sale offering mannequins and other display props.
But like any other major retail chain, Marshall Field’s was the subject of an occasional controversy.
One of Field’s most beloved traditions was Frango mints, which for decades were made in a candy kitchen high atop the State Street store.
But 20 years later, in March 1999, Field’s closed their candy kitchen and moved production of Frango mints to Pennsylvania. That left many Chicagoans furious, including Mayor Daley.
“This is the candy capital of the United States,” Daley said at the time. “You cannot find a candy company here to make Frango mints? This is the candy capital of the United States right here, in Chicago. Why do you have to go someplace else?”
But as part of the Macy’s takeover, a return of Frango mint production to Chicago is still being pursued.
"We are actively pursing a candy company or factory (in the Chicago area) that can produce our Frango mints," said Macy's public relations manager Andrea Schwartz.
Further, the mints are being sold nationwide.
What is now the Macy's store at 111 N. State St. is the second largest department store in the country. The first is the Macy's flagship store at Herald Square in New York City.
Goodbye, Old Friend!
