Sep 9, 2006 3:11 pm US/Central
Remembering Marshall Field's
A Look Back At The Legendary Store Name As It Vanishes
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
It became official on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 9 – the legendary
Marshall Field's name is but a memory.
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.
In this edition of the Vault, we look back at some of the people who worked and shopped at Marshall Field's, and we hear Mayor
Richard M. Daley's comments from when the State Street store's candy kitchen 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. When former CBS 2 reporter Bob Wallace visited the kitchen in 1979, most of the candy was still made by hand, with the confectioners working by taste and feel.
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.
Field's is not the only department store name that is vanishing in favor of Macy's. Elsewhere in the country, Hecht's, Foley's, and Filene's, among others, have also changed names.
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.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
