John Wanamaker

Early life and family

Wanamaker was born on July 11, 1838, in a then-rural, unincorporated area that would in time come to be known as the Grays Ferry neighborhood of South Philadelphia. His parents were John Nelson Wanamaker, a brickmaker and a native of Kingwood, New Jersey and Elizabeth Deshong Kochersperger, daughter of a farmer and innkeeper at Gray's Ferry whose ancestors had hailed from Rittershoffen in Alsace, France, and from Canton of Bern in Switzerland.

In 1860 John Wanamaker married Mary Erringer Brown (1839–1920).

They had six children (two of them died in childhood):

John Wanamaker's son, Thomas B., who specialized in store financial matters, purchased a Philadelphia newspaper called The North American in 1899 and irritated his father by giving regular columns to radical intellectuals such as single-taxer Henry George, Jr., socialist Henry John Nelson (who later became Emma Goldman's lawyer), and socialist Caroline H. Pemberton. The younger Wanamaker also began publishing a Sunday edition, which offended his father's Biblically informed religious views.

His younger son Rodman, a Princeton graduate, lived in France early in his career and is credited with creating a demand for French luxury goods that persists to this day. Rodman was credited with the artistic emphasis that gave the Wanamaker stores their cachet and also was a patron of fine music, organizing spectacular organ and orchestra concerts in the Wanamaker Philadelphia and New York stores under music director Alexander Russell.

Department store business

Wanamaker opened his first store in 1861, in partnership with his brother in-law Nathan Brown, called "Oak Hall", at Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, adjacent to the site of George Washington's Presidential home. 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 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

A large 12-story granite store in Philadelphia, known as the "Wanamaker Building", designed by famous Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham, was completed in 1910 and dedicated by US President William Howard Taft. The store stands on the site of "The Grand Depot", encompassing an entire block at the corner of Thirteenth and Market Streets across from Philadelphia's City Hall. The new store, The Wanamaker Building, which still stands today, became a Philadelphia institution and has remained an integral part of the Philadelphia culture.

Grand Court

The Wanamaker Building's most notable feature is its 12 story, marble-clad central atrium, commonly known as the Grand Court. The Grand Court quickly became a Philadelphia favorite, highlighted by the Wanamaker Eagle and the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ. Among other things of note, the Grand Court has been featured in major motion pictures, such as: "Nasty Habits"(1977), "Mannequin"(1987), "Blow Out"(1981), and "12 Monkeys"(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. This heroic instrument had more than 10,000 pipes, and cost $105,000 to construct. Wanamaker bought the organ in 1909 and had transported from St. Louis aboard 13 freight cars. The organ's installation took two years and 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 28,500. Once a year, usually in June, "Wanamaker Organ Day" is held, which is a free recital which lasts most of the day.

Wanamaker Eagle

John Wanamaker purchased a bronze bird sculpture by August Gaul, during the sculpture's visit to America in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The 2,500-pound sculpture is a focal point of the store's grand court, which floor had to be reinforced to hold the sculpture. Known as the "Wanamaker Eagle", it became a famous meeting place for Philadelphians. "Meet me at the Eagle" became a popular Philadelphia catchphrase.

Holiday Light Show

In November, 1955, the store hired 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 Holiday Light Show has become a beloved annual holiday tradition for generations of Philadelphians. Today, the light show has been modernized, but has retained the look and feel of the original show. Since 2006 the Macy's Dickens Village has been located on the store's third floor, continuing a cherished Philadelphia Christmas tradition that had begun at a different location in 1985.

Expansion outside Philadelphia

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

Wanamaker was an innovator, creative in his work, a merchandising genius, and proponent of the power of advertising, though modest and with an enduring reputation for honesty. Although he did not invent the fixed price system, he is credited for the creation of the price tag; he popularized it into what became the industry standard and did create the money-back guarantee that is now standard business practice. He gave his employees free medical care, education, recreational facilities, pensions and profit-sharing plans before such benefits were considered standard. Labor activists, however, knew him as a fierce opponent of unionization. During an 1887 organizing drive by the Knights of Labor, he simply fired the first twelve union members who were discovered by his detectives. The stores did make noted early efforts to advance the welfare of African-Americans and Native Americans. He was the first retailer to place a half-page newspaper ad (1874) and the first full-page ad (1879). 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.

Postmaster General

In 1889 Wanamaker began the First Penny Savings Bank in order to encourage thrift. That 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. 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.

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

However, Wanamaker's tenure at the Post Office was riddled with controversy, including the firing of some 30,000 postal workers under the then common "spoils system" during his four-year term, which caused severe confusion, inefficiency and a run-in with civil-service crusader Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow Republican. In 1890 he 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. Then, when his department store ordered advance copies of the newly translated novel The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy, the deadline had been missed and only the regular discount was offered. He retaliated by banning the book from the US Mail on grounds of obscenity. This earned him ridicule in many major U.S. newspapers. In 1891 he ordered changes in the uniforms of letter carriers, and was then 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. 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 impact caused by the coming of the automobile.

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.

Wanamaker was the longest surviving member of President Benjamin Harrison's cabinet.

Philanthropy

Wanamaker was known for his philanthropy in regards to the poor in Philadelphia. He co-founded Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, in 1878. Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission has since expanded to provide more services and is still in use for the homeless population of Philadelphia.

Wanamaker was an avid collection of art and antiquities. He made several donations to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Among these donations was a collection of bronze reproductions of artifacts uncovered from the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which Wanamaker had commissioned by the Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples specifically for the museum, and which are known collectively as the Wanamaker Bronzes.

Death

He died on December 12, 1922. His funeral was on December 14, 1922, with a service at the Bethany Presbyterian Church. He was interred in the Wanamaker family tomb in the churchyard of the Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia.

At his death his estate was estimated to be $100 million (USD), ($1,430,815,109 today) divided equally among his three living children and granddaughters, Mary "Minnie" Wanamaker Warburton (Mrs. Barclay Warburton) Patricia "Paddy" W. Estelle and Elizabeth Wanamaker McLeod, who all received substantial stocks, real estate and cash instruments. Second son Rodman was made sole inheritor of the store businesses. Rodman died in 1928, leaving the businesses with a documented worth of $35 million [$500,785,288 today] in a trust. Rodman is credited with founding the Professional Golfers' Association of America and the Millrose Games. His first son Thomas B. Wanamaker died in Paris in 1908.

Legacy