"The Wanamaker Department Store"

JOHN WANAMAKER

Born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 11, 1838. Quit school at age 14 years. His first job was working in a bookstore. In 1856 he got a job in Barclay Lippincott's clothing store in Philadelphia. He then became a salesman in Bennett's Tower Hall on Market Street.

Later he became Secretary of The Young Mens Christian Association. In 1861 he formed a business partnership with his brother inlaw, Nathan Brown, which was called Wanamaker & Brown - a men's clothing store called Oak Hall. The store, near Liberty Bell pavilion, stood on the site of the house where George Washington had resided during his two Presidential terms in Philadelphia. When Brown died in 1868, he continued the business alone.

In 1869, opened the more fashionable John Wanamaker & Company. He turned this store over to his brothers to manage. For the National Centennial, he opened the "GRAND DEPOT", a huge dry goods and men's clothing store located in a former Pennsylvania Railroad depot. It opened on March 12, 1877, and was known as "The New Kind of Store," adding to his original stocks, women's fashions and merchandise for the home. He was the first to organize it into departments and so the term "Department Store" was born. The entire block from Market to Chestnut street and from Thirteenth Street to City Hall Square was incorporated. John Wanamaker became the owner of the largest retail store in America. In 1896 he bought a New York business founded by A.T. Stewart and coninuously expanded his merchandise, offering moneyback guarantee through advertizements. The Department Store in Philadelphia, it's construction began in 1902, which was completed November 14, 1910.

He served as President of the Young Mens Christian Association for about 8 years. A member of the board of finance of the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876. He was one of the organizers of the Merchant's Bank and acted as director in several others. A director of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company. A trustee of the Presbyterian Church, which he helped build. Manager of the University Hospital for many years. He was a Vice-president of the museum at the University of Pennsylvania.

Chairman of the Citizens Relief Committee to aid the Irish Famine Sufferers. He assisted the Southern people during the Yellow Fever Epidemic. He also assisted with help to the Ohio River Flood victims, the Famine in Russia and the starving Belgians.

A member of the Union League. Appointed Postmaster-General in recognition of his services during the election campaign of 1888. Where he created the introduction of the Parcel Post system, as well as other inprovements. A member of the board of Education of Philadelphia. A delegate in the Republian National Convention of 1912.

He presented himself to King Edward of England at the Coronation Lunch in Guildhall on June 29, 1911. Decorated with the Order of the Legion of Honor from the French in 1912. Organized the Bethany Sunday School in 1858 and another Sunday School near Bethany. He also organized Bethany Temple Church in Philadelphia. He supported temperance and the Pennsylvania Blue Laws.

He was made a Mason At Sight in 1898, at the age of 62. He did not belong, but was an honorary memeber. In 1900 he became a member of Friendship Lodge No. 400. He was elected Senior Warden, then served as Worshipful Master of the Lodge. Received the 33rd Degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He served the Grand Lodge as Chairman of the Library Committee, largely responsible of the growth of the collection, using his own personal wealth, to collect books, letters, and artwork which pertained to the history and teachings of Freemasonry. He donated a copy of W. J. Williams portrait of George Washington in Masonic regalia, painted in 1794. By the end, the Library had over 17,000 volumes, and over 7,400 works of art and Masonic relics.

He expected military drill of his male workers and released them for service during the wars, Spanish-American War and First World War. He helped his workers improve themselves, providing business classes and benefits for his employees.

"THE WANAMAKER DIARY"

The Wanamaker Diary was issued by Wanamaker's Department Store, Broadway at 8th Street, in Manhattan. Intended as a recordkeeping book and souvenir, crammed with information, advice, and facts about New York, including the seating charts for theaters and stadiums in the city. Advertisments has stores and businesses in Philadelphia, where Wanamaker's was originally based, before expanding to New York City in 1896. The New York store, a famous landmark in the city, was razed by fire in 1956, 34 years after the death of its founder, John Wanamaker.
NOTE: Image scanned of "The Wannamaker Diary 1919", from my computer, I have the original copy. The hard cover brown and black book is about 8 inches long by 4 1/2 inches wide and about 2 inches thick. Advertisements are interesting due to the date of issue. This Diary was found at a "garage sale" several years ago, by a friend. She bought it for me for only 50 cents! It had already deteriated alot, looking very old now. I keep it well covered in a plastic container, looking at it only occasionally. SKD.

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THE WANAMAKER ORGAN

The Wanamaker Grand Organ in Philadelphia first played in the Grand Court on June 22, 1911. Built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, the Wanamaker Organ was designed by renowned organ architect George Ashdown Audsley. Its construction was $105,000, bankrupting the builder.
In 1909, John Wanamaker bought the instrument for his Philadelphia emporium. The Grand Organ was first heard in the seven story atrium in 1911, at the exact moment when England's King George was crowned. Later that year, it was used when President Taft dedicated the store. The tone was judged inadequate to fill the huge court. Wanamaker's opened a private pipe organ factory in the store attic, employing about 40 employees to make it larger. The largest pipe is made of flawless Oregon Sugar Pine three inches thick and over 32 feet long. The smallest pipe is a quarter-inch in length. Enlargements occured 1917, and in 1924 to 1930, evenually bringing the total number of pipes today to 28,500. There is a massive console with six ivory keyboards and 729 color-coded stop tablets. There are 168 combination buttons and 42 foot controls. During the lifetime of John Wanamaker and his son Rodman, since 1919, the world's finest organists have continued to perform at Wanamakers.

Now a National Historic Landmark and valued in excess of $50 million, the Wanamaker Organ is of the American Symphonic design, which can play the great organ masterworks as well as the entire range of orchestral literature. The pipework encompasses the resources of three symphony orchestras.

The memorial tablet on the Wanamaker Store reads:"Let those who follow me continue to build with the plumb of Honor, the level of Truth, and the Square of Integrity, Education, Courtesy and Mutuality."

Much has been written about the merchant prince John Wanamaker, but little mention about his son Rodman. During his lifetime Rodman Wanamaker avoided the press and kept out of the limelight as much as possible.

He was committed to bringing art and beauty into the stores. His influence extended to the finest merchandise, pioneering imports of French fashions, richness of Store architecture, decor and music. Which continues today in the artwork that adorns Wannamaker's, the now named Lord & Taylor Department Store, in the Holiday Light and Fountain Show and daily sounds of the Wanamaker Organ, became the hallmark of the Wanamaker empire.

It was Rodman Wanamaker who enlarged the Wanamaker Organ. He undertook the medieval style Lady Chapel at Philadelphia's St. Mark's Episcopal Church, with silver altar. Similar decorations in the chapel of the English Royal family at Sandringham; the processional cross he gave to Westminster Abbey; and the great bell he cast in memory of his father.

He was born February 13, 1863, and entered Princeton University in 1881, graduating in 1886. In college he sang in the choir. A member and business manager of the Glee Club. He suffered the early death of his first wife, leaving him a widower with 3 children. His second marriage ended unhappily, and he suffered from kidney disease the last eight years of his life.

In 1886 he joined his father's business, and married Fernanda Henry of Philadelphia. He went to Paris as resident manager in 1889, and lived abroad for more than ten years. When his father purchased the A.T. Stewart business in New York in 1896, he helped revolutionize the department store with top quality items.

He returned from Europe in 1899, keeping his Paris residence. After the death of his brother Thomas in 1908 and retirement of Robert C. Ogden, he was his father's chief lieutenant. Before John Wanamaker died he turned all his holdings over to Rodman of the two stores. John Wanamaker had been the sole owner of the business, with his death in 1922, complete control and management passed from father to son. No other retail merchandising business on so large a scale in the world was in the hands of a single man.

Like his father, Rodman Wanamaker always had many outside interests. But, he was not a public man like his father John Wanamaker. The life he lived outside his business was like a recluse. At home he surrounded himself with beautiful furniture and priceless tapestries. He loved jewelry. He spent many hours reading books. He collected rare musical instruments.

He went to great lengths to care for the thousands who worked for him. He loved music, pictures, flags and uniforms. He shared great passion for beauty with all those who worked for him and knew him.

Orville Wright, once called Rodman Wanamaker's idea of a trans-Atlantic flight "impracticable and foolhardy." But Wanamaker persisted. His first "America," which was wrecked in a storm, was the largest airplane ever built in the United States. His second "America" was purchased by the British Admiralty when the outbreak of the World War made an attempt at flight impossible. His third "America," in 1927, met with an accident, just as it was ready to take off before Lindbergh and Chamberlain started their flights. The "America" made a new page in the history of aviation when Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd piloted it, with three companions, from New York to France in the early summer of 1927.