Department store pioneer, founded Wanamaker's in Philadelphia.

1. John Wanamaker

John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922) was a Philadelphia merchant and retail innovator whose department store helped reshape American consumer culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Grays Ferry, Wanamaker built a commercial empire on principles that were, for the time, genuinely radical: fixed prices on every item, a money-back guarantee, and full-page newspaper advertising. He served as United States Postmaster General under President Benjamin Harrison from 1889 to 1893, pushing hard for parcel post service and rural free delivery. His flagship store, opened in grand form in 1876, became one of the world's largest retail establishments and houses what remains the largest fully functional pipe organ on earth.

Wanamaker's wasn't just a commercial hub. It was a cultural institution, reflecting Philadelphia's ambitions during rapid industrialization and urban growth. The 1911 building still stands today, currently undergoing major redevelopment, standing as evidence of that era's architectural and commercial confidence.

The store's success came from three things: commitment to product quality, emphasis on customer experience, and the ability to adapt to shifting consumer expectations. For over a century, the original Philadelphia location remained the heart of that identity, drawing shoppers from across the region and serving as a symbol of the city's commercial strength.

History

Wanamaker's story begins in 1861, when John Wanamaker and his brother-in-law Nathan Brown opened Oak Hall, a men's clothing store at Sixth and Market Streets. Brown died of tuberculosis in 1868. Wanamaker continued alone, expanding steadily through the early 1870s. Then came 1876.

The Grand Depot was different entirely. Wanamaker purchased the old Pennsylvania Railroad freight depot at 13th and Market and converted it into a vast dry goods emporium, opening on May 6, 1876, just as Philadelphia was hosting the Centennial Exposition. The timing wasn't accidental. Millions of visitors were arriving in the city, and Wanamaker meant to capture them.

The Grand Depot's interior featured one of the earliest uses of electric lighting in American retail, installed in 1878, and the store introduced practices that competitors would eventually adopt across the country. Individually marked price tags ended haggling. An unconditional money-back guarantee was virtually unheard of. Large-scale newspaper advertising, including what's generally credited as the first full-page ad placed by a retailer in an American daily newspaper, made the store's name known far beyond Philadelphia. The store organized its merchandise into distinct departments, each with its own staff and inventory system, giving the new form of retailing its defining name.

By the early 20th century, the converted freight building had hit its limits. Construction on a new building began in 1904, and the result was a twelve-story Beaux-Arts structure designed by architect Daniel H. Burnham, opening in stages between 1906 and 1911. The building's heart was the Grand Court, a soaring atrium of marble that became one of Philadelphia's most celebrated interior spaces. At its center sat a bronze eagle sculpture, originally cast for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, which Wanamaker purchased and installed as the store's unofficial mascot. "Meet me at the Eagle" became a common Philadelphia expression.

The Grand Court also became home to the Wanamaker Organ. Built originally for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company, Wanamaker purchased it, had it expanded by organ builder George Ashdown Audsley, and installed it in the Grand Court, where it was inaugurated by President William Howard Taft on June 22, 1911. The organ now contains 28,482 pipes across six manuals and is recognized by the Organ Historical Society as the largest fully functional pipe organ in the world. Daily concerts continued throughout the store's retail life and beyond.

Wanamaker's cultural reach extended into surprising areas. He was an early and prominent supporter of Mother's Day as a national observance, and his store was among the first retailers to recognize its commercial possibilities after Anna Jarvis successfully campaigned for its adoption in the early 1910s. Jarvis, who had founded the holiday in memory of her own mother, grew bitterly opposed to its commercialization. She spent the last years of her life fighting the greeting card and retail industries that had, in her view, corrupted her original intent. Wanamaker's, along with florists and candy makers, was among the targets of her criticism.

John Wanamaker died on December 12, 1922. His heirs continued operating the business, but the postwar decades brought mounting pressure from suburban shopping malls and shifting retail patterns. The Great Depression strained operations. While the Philadelphia flagship survived, the national expansion Wanamaker had envisioned never fully took shape. The store passed through several ownership changes in the later 20th century, eventually becoming part of the Lord & Taylor chain before closing in 1995. Macy's subsequently occupied the space until 2024.

Geography

The Wanamaker Building occupies the full block bounded by Market Street, Juniper Street, Chestnut Street, and 13th Street in Center City Philadelphia. Wanamaker chose this site in 1875 precisely because of its position at the commercial core of the city. The Market-Frankford Line runs directly below Market Street, placing the store within easy reach of commuters arriving from across the region. That accessibility was deliberate. Wanamaker understood that a department store's success depended on volume, and volume required transit.

The surrounding area, part of what's broadly called the Market Street commercial corridor, has changed considerably since Wanamaker's heyday. The Pennsylvania Convention Center opened one block north in 1993. City Hall, with its famous statue of William Penn, stands three blocks west at Broad and Market. The 1911 Burnham structure remains standing and is listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and as a contributing resource to the Market Street National Historic District, which has helped protect it from demolition through decades of commercial uncertainty.

Culture

Wanamaker's influence on Philadelphia's cultural life went well beyond dry goods sales. The store was an early adopter of electric lighting, installing Thomas Edison's system in 1878, only two years after Edison's first commercial demonstrations. It held regular concerts in the Grand Court, with the Wanamaker Organ played twice daily for much of the 20th century, and hosted speakers, exhibitions, and civic events that made the building function as a kind of secular public hall for the city. The Christmas light show in the Grand Court, a tradition that began in the store's retail era, became one of the city's most enduring seasonal customs.

That tradition faced a threat when Macy's closed its Wanamaker Building location in 2024. Would the lights return? They did. The lights came back for the 2024 holiday season, preserving a custom that generations of Philadelphia families had made part of their December routines. The organ, maintained by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, continues to be played regularly in the Grand Court regardless of the building's commercial occupancy.

Wanamaker was also a significant figure in Philadelphia's religious and philanthropic work. He founded Bethany Presbyterian Church in 1858, which grew into one of the largest Sunday school programs in the country, and he was deeply involved in the YMCA movement. His civic engagement built institutions that outlasted his commercial empire. His belief that merchants had obligations beyond the transaction, to employees and community and city, influenced how other Philadelphia business leaders understood their own roles.

Notable People

John Wanamaker was born on July 11, 1838, in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, not in New York as sometimes reported, to Nelson Wanamaker, a bricklayer, and Elizabeth Dever. He left school at fourteen to work as an errand boy, eventually found employment at a bookstore and then at a men's clothing firm, learning the retail trade from the ground up before striking out with his brother-in-law Nathan Brown in 1861. His appointment as Postmaster General in 1889 made him one of the most powerful businessmen ever to hold a cabinet position. He used it aggressively: he campaigned for parcel post service, which Congress resisted until 1913 under pressure from powerful express companies, and he pushed for rural free delivery, which was enacted during his tenure.

Robert Curtis Ogden, a longtime Wanamaker business partner, became an influential advocate for African American education in the South, serving on the boards of Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute. The store's early workforce included many women in sales and clerical roles at a time when such employment was relatively unusual. Wanamaker established an employee benefit and educational program, the John Wanamaker Commercial Institute, that trained thousands of young workers in business skills.

Economy

The economic impact of Wanamaker's on Philadelphia was substantial and measurable. At its peak in the early 20th century, the Philadelphia store employed more than 5,000 people and generated annual sales that placed it among the highest-volume retail operations in the country. The store's payroll supported thousands of Philadelphia families, and its purchasing operations stimulated manufacturers across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic states. Wanamaker's advertising budgets, which he spent heavily and consistently on newspaper advertising, helped sustain Philadelphia's daily press and set expectations for what retail advertising could accomplish.

The store also shaped Center City's commercial geography. Its presence at 13th and Market anchored what became one of the densest retail corridors in the American Northeast, attracting other department stores like Gimbels, Strawbridge & Clothier, and Lit Brothers to the same blocks. This clustering created a retail district that defined downtown Philadelphia's economic life for most of the 20th century. The decline of that district, accelerating after the 1970s with suburban malls' growth, reflected broader shifts in how Americans shopped. Wanamaker's didn't cause that decline, but its own struggles mirrored the city's.

The Wanamaker Building Today

The 1911 Burnham building still stands at 13th and Market Streets. It's not demolished. It's not derelict. It's fully intact and now at the center of one of Philadelphia's most closely watched real estate projects. Following Macy's departure in 2024, the architectural firm PAU (Practice for Architecture and Urbanism) was selected to lead the building's transformation into a mixed-use development including residential units, retail space, and preserved public areas like the Grand Court. The project has been designed to retain the building's historic character, including the Grand Court, the Wanamaker Organ, and the bronze eagle, all of which are expected to remain accessible to the public.

The Christmas light show returned for the 2024 holiday season, operated independently of the building's ongoing redevelopment. The Wanamaker Organ, maintained by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, continues to be played in the Grand Court on a regular schedule. For Philadelphians who grew up visiting the store, the building's future carries weight beyond real estate: it holds decades of accumulated civic memory, and the city has watched the redevelopment closely.

Attractions

The Grand Court of the Wanamaker Building remains its most celebrated feature. The marble walls, vaulted ceiling, and the bronze eagle at its center are intact. The Wanamaker Organ, with its 28,482 pipes, continues to be played regularly by staff organists and visiting musicians. The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ maintains the instrument and publishes a schedule of public performances. The Christmas light show, which fills the Grand Court with an elaborate display synchronized to organ music, draws large crowds each year and has been a Philadelphia tradition since the mid-20th century.

The building itself is worth visiting as an architectural object. Daniel Burnham's design, which also includes the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, gives the Wanamaker Building a grandeur unusual in American retail architecture. The exterior's granite facade and the interior's grand proportions reflect the conviction, common among Wanamaker's generation, that commerce deserved monumental expression. The building is accessible directly from the Market-Frankford Line's 13th Street station and is surrounded by City Hall, the Reading Terminal Market, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Getting There

The Wanamaker Building sits at 13th and Market Streets in Center City Philadelphia, one block east of City Hall and directly above the Market-Frankford Line. The nearest subway station is 13th Street on the Market-Frankford Line, accessible from both directions across the city. SEPTA regional rail lines serving Jefferson Station (formerly Market East), two blocks east, provide connections from the suburbs and Amtrak's 30th Street Station. Multiple bus routes run along Market Street and Chestnut Street, both of which border the building.

For those arriving by car, parking is available in several garages nearby, including the Parkway parking garage on 15th Street and the Convention Center garage on Arch Street. Street parking in the immediate area is limited. The building is within easy walking distance of the Reading Terminal Market, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and City Hall.