John Wannamaker

Philadelphia department store magnate (1838–1922) who also served as Postmaster General from 1889 to 1893. LS, one page, 5.5 x 9, personal letterhead, March 15, 1910. Letter to a gentleman, in part: "I believe that the successful merchant of the future will be an educated man and that his success will be greater because of a college education." In very good to fine condition, with light show-through from mounting remnants on the back.

In 1861, Wanamaker opened his first store in partnership with his brother in-law Nathan Brown. The store, called "Oak Hall", was located at 6th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, adjacent to the site of the residence and offices of George Washington during his presidency.

Oak Hall grew substantially based on Wanamaker's then-revolutionary principle: "One price and goods returnable".

In 1869, he opened his second store at 818 Chestnut Street, and, capitalizing on his own name due to the untimely death of his brother-in-law and growing reputation, renamed the company John Wanamaker & Co. In 1875, he purchased an abandoned railroad depot and converted it into a large store, called John Wanamaker & Co. "The Grand Depot". Wanamaker's is considered the first department store in Philadelphia.

Wanamaker Building

The Wanamaker Building is a large, 12-story granite store in Philadelphia, designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1910. It was dedicated by U.S. President William Howard Taft on December 30, 1911. The store stands on the site of "The Grand Depot", encompassing an entire block at the corner of 13th and Market Streets across from Philadelphia City Hall. The new store, The Wanamaker Building, which still stands today, became a Philadelphia institution. The entire building was initially devoted to the department store and company offices.

The building has remained an integral part of Philadelphia culture. In 2018, the upper office tower was marketed as the Wanamaker Office Building.

Grand Court

The Wanamaker Building's most notable feature is its seven-story, marble-clad central atrium, known as the "Grand Court". The Grand Court quickly became a Philadelphia favorite, highlighted by the Wanamaker Eagle and the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ.

The Grand Court has been featured in several movies, including Nasty Habits in 1977, Blow Out in 1981, Mannequin in 1987, and 12 Monkeys in 1995.

Wanamaker Organ

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ was designed by George Ashdown Audsley and built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The instrument had 10,059 pipes, and cost $105,000 to construct, equal to $3,760,000 today. Wanamaker bought the organ in 1909 and had it transported from St. Louis aboard 13 freight cars. The organ's installation in Philadelphia took two years. It was played for the first time on June 22, 1911, to coincide with England's King George V's coronation.

More than 8,000 pipes were added to the organ between 1911 and 1917. By 1930, an additional 10,000 pipes were installed, bringing the total number of pipes today to 28,750. The instrument is of the American Symphonic school of design, intended to combine traditional organ resources with the tone colors and beauty of the symphony orchestra. Once a year, usually in June, "Wanamaker Organ Day" is held. This free festival lasts most of the day.^[5]

Wanamaker Eagle

John Wanamaker purchased a bronze bird sculpture by August Gaul, following the sculpture's exhibition in America in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) sculpture is a focal point of the store's Grand Court. The sculpture is placed above a steel beam because of its weight. Known as the "Wanamaker Eagle", it became a famous meeting place and "Meet me at the Eagle" became a popular Philadelphia catchphrase.^[6]

Christmas Light Show

In November 1955, the store tapped lighting designer, Frederick Yost, to create seasonal displays. Yost designed the "Holiday Light Show" for the Grand Court, creating a more-contemporary display than previous years. Since then, the light show has become an annual tradition for generations of Philadelphians. In the 21st century, the light show has been modernized, but has retained the look and feel of the original. Since 2006, the "Macy's Dickens Village" has been located on the store's third floor, continuing a Christmas tradition that had begun at Strawbridge's in 1985.^[5]

Expansion

Wanamaker expanded to New York City in 1896, continuing a mercantile business originally started by Alexander Turney Stewart. He expanded internationally with the Wanamaker European import houses in London and Paris.

Wanamaker was a proponent of the power of advertising, though modest and with an enduring reputation for honesty.^{[citation needed]} Although he did not invent the fixed price system, he is credited for the creation of the price tag;^[7] he popularized it as the industry standard. He also started the "money-back guarantee" that is now standard business practice.

He provided his employees with free medical care, education, recreational facilities, pensions and profit-sharing plans before such benefits were considered standard.^{[citation needed]} Labor activists, however, knew him as a fierce opponent of unionization.^{[citation needed]} During an 1887 organizing drive by the Knights of Labor, he fired the first twelve union members who were discovered by his detectives.^[8]

Wanamaker was the first retailer to place a half-page newspaper ad (1874) and the first full-page ad (1879).^[9] He initially wrote his own ad copy, but later hired the world's first full-time copywriter John Emory Powers. During Powers's tenure, Wanamaker's revenues doubled from $4 million to $8 million.^[10] Wanamaker supposedly said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."

Postmaster General

In 1889, Wanamaker began the First Penny Savings Bank in order to encourage thrift. The same year, he was appointed United States Postmaster General by President Benjamin Harrison; he was accused by the newspapers of the day of buying the post.^[11] Wanamaker was credited by his friends with introducing the first commemorative stamp and many efficiencies to the Postal Service. He was the first to make plans for free rural postal service in the United States, although the plan was not implemented until 1896.^[12]

In 1890, Wanamaker persuaded Congress to pass an act prohibiting the sale of lottery tickets through the mail, and then he aggressively pursued violators.^[13] Those actions effectively ended all state lotteries in the US until they reappeared in 1964, partly as an effort to undermine organized crime.

Wanamaker's tenure at the Post Office was riddled with controversy. He fired some 30,000 postal workers under the then common "spoils system" during his four-year term, as it was customary for a change in political administrations to lead to new appointments for their own supporters.^{[citation needed]} The changeover of so many employees caused severe confusion, inefficiency, and a run-in with civil-service crusader Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow Republican.

In 1890, Wanamaker commissioned a series of stamps that were derided in the national media as the poorest quality stamps ever issued, both for printing quality and materials. When his department store ordered advance copies of the newly translated novel The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy, the deadline was missed, and only the regular discount was offered by the publisher. He retaliated by banning the book from the US Mail on grounds of obscenity.

He was ridiculed for this action by many major U.S. newspapers. In 1891, he ordered changes in the uniforms of letter carriers, and was accused of arranging for all the uniforms to be ordered from a single firm in Baltimore, to which he was believed to have financial ties.^[14] In 1893 he made a public prediction at the Chicago World's Fair that U.S. mail would still rely on stagecoach and horseback delivery for a century to come, failing to anticipate the effects of trains, the automobile, and related truck vehicles.^[15]

During World War I, Wanamaker publicly proposed that the United States buy Belgium from Germany for the sum of one-hundred billion dollars, as an alternative to the continuing carnage of the war.^[16]

Wanamaker was a presidential elector in the 1888 and 1920 presidential elections.^[17]

Wanamaker was the last surviving member of President Benjamin Harrison's cabinet.^{[citation needed]}

Philanthropy

Wanamaker was known for his philanthropy to programs to aid the poor in Philadelphia. He co-founded Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission (now Philly House)^[18], a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, in 1878.^[19] The Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission has since expanded to provide more services and still supports the homeless population of Philadelphia.^[20] In December 1915^[21] Wanamaker purchased the Empire Theatre at Broad St. and Fairmont Ave, and used his wealth to transform it into a new local headquarters for the Salvation Army (SA) known as the Salvation Army Memorial Building (opened May 1917).^[22] The building remained the SA's Philadelphia headquarters until it was demolished in March 1970.^[23]

He was an avid collector of art and antiquities. He made several donations to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.^[24]

Among the donations was a collection of bronze reproductions of artifacts uncovered from the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, known as the Wanamaker Bronzes, which Wanamaker had commissioned by the Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples for the museum.

John Wannamaker 1838 - 1922

Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia

Rare Documents and Autographs