Field & Leiter

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Found in Tour: Heart of the Downtown, 2: The Northeast Loop
Landmark Images:
Cor. State and Washington Street; Louis Kurz for Jevne & Almini, Lithograph, 1866-67 (ichi-31532)

Cor. State and Washington Street; Louis Kurz for Jevne & Almini, Lithograph, 1866-67 (ichi-31532)

The vantage point is the southeast corner of Washington and State streets, looking north.  State Street at this point was significantly wider than just to the south.  This was to accommodate a building containing a market-house and public hall that had been located in the middle of the street.  These were removed in the 1850s since they were no longer needed and had become an impediment to the flow of traffic in the growing city.  A similar marketplace in the West Division, known as the Haymarket, was also removed from the center of Randolph Street just west of Desplaines Street (the widening of Randolph at this point remains apparent today).  It was in this area that the Haymarket meeting was held in 1886 at which the infamous bomb was thrown.  The North Division Market was near Dearborn and Hubbard, which after the fire became the site of the Cook County Criminal Court and jail.

On the west side of the street is the Merchant’s Hotel, north of which is Crosby’s Building, which offered access to Crosby’s Opera House on Washington Street.  Soon Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter would move their large dry goods store from Lake Street into a stunning new building on the northeast corner of State and Washington at the urging of their former partner Potter Palmer, who had recently invested in a large stretch of State Street real estate and was determined to make it Chicago’s central retail area.

Note the sign on the left advertising "bathing rooms."  Private bathtubs were at this point still a luxury.

Charles Tobey Furniture and Bedding, 87-89-91 State Street (now 103 N. State); Potter Palmer Real Estate Album, Photograph, 1868-69 (ichi-64383)

Charles Tobey Furniture and Bedding, 87-89-91 State Street (now 103 N. State); Potter Palmer Real Estate Album, Photograph, 1868-69 (ichi-64383)

This building, on the east side of State Street just above Washington Street, was one of the structures that Potter Palmer cleared in order to construct the Field & Leiter store.

Field & Leiter Store before the Fire; Stereograph, P. B. Greene, ca. 1871 (ichi-64398)

Field & Leiter Store before the Fire; Stereograph, P. B. Greene, ca. 1871 (ichi-64398)

The six-story Field & Leiter pre-fire store was located on the northeast corner of State and Washington streets.  Its frontage on State was almost 150 feet.  Field and Leiter had both come to Chicago in the mid-1850s, Field from central Massachusetts, Leiter from western Maryland.  They met while working in a drapery establishment.  In 1865 they joined with Potter Palmer in opening a large dry goods emporium on Lake Street.  Palmer sold his interest to them in 1867 in order to concentrate on his real estate holdings, including the Palmer House hotel and the building he constructed for his former partners.

The new Field & Leiter store was the biggest enterpise of its kind outside of New York.  It was a leader in a new style of urban retailing (it also conducted a large wholesale business), featuring a vast array of goods elegantly displayed in separate departments (hence the name, department store) staffed by well-dressed and carefully trained sales clerks who treated their fashionable clientele like guests rather than mere customers.

Ruins of the Mammoth Store of Field & Leiter; Lovejoy & Foster, Stereograph, 1871 (ichi-21537)

Ruins of the Mammoth Store of Field & Leiter; Lovejoy & Foster, Stereograph, 1871 (ichi-21537)

Field & Leiter was able to rescue some of its goods and store them in a horse-car barn south of the burnt district.  The company soon set up in temporary quarters at Madison and Market (now Wacker Drive) streets before deciding to erect an enormous wholesale store, designed by H. H. Richardson, on this land and rebuild their retail store at Washington and State.  The latter unfortunately suffered the same fate as its predecessor, burning down in 1877.  The partners immediately raised a third store in the same location.  It opened in 1878.  Three years later Leiter sold his interest to Field, who changed the name of the business to Marshall Field & Company. 

The Key to Ruins (ichi-63847)

The Key to Ruins (ichi-63847)

The key to the main door of the pre-fire Field & Leiter store.

Looking North on State Street from Washington Street; Photograph, 1928 (ichi-64367)

Looking North on State Street from Washington Street; Photograph, 1928 (ichi-64367)

The viewpoint here is almost the same as in the Jevne & Almini lithograph.  On the extreme left one can see the Reliance Building.  This Burnham & Root structure (now the Hotel Burnham) was originally four stories, to which D. H. Burnham & Company added twelve more stories in 1895.  The Butler Building, seen in prominent profile, was erected in 1924.  Of the three theaters—the Roosevelt, the State Lake, and the Chicago—only the last remains in business.

The former Marshall Field & Company store, now known as Macy’s, is seen in profile on the right.  By this time Field's occupied the entire block bordered by Randolph, Wabash, Washington, and State.  It was not one building but several.  The portion on the northwest corner of Washington and Wabash dates to 1892, the middle section on Wabash to 1906, and the one at the southwest corner of Randolph and Wabash to 1914.  The north portion on the State Street side was built in 1902, the south section five years later.  D. H. Burnham & Company was the architect for most of the work.