A History of Wanamaker

John Wanamaker, born in Philadelphia on July 11, 1838, became a prominent merchant, philanthropist, and religious, civic, and political leader, including serving as the U.S. Postmaster General. In 1861, he and his brother-in-law Nathan Brown established Oak Hall, a men's clothing store in Philadelphia founded on the principle, "One Price, Full Guarantee, Money Returned." After Brown's death, the company was renamed John Wanamaker & Co. in 1869. In 1874, Wanamaker bought the abandoned Philadelphia Railroad freight station at 13th and Market Streets and transformed it into the Grand Depot, which opened on March 26, 1876 during the Centennial Exposition as the nation's largest men's and children's clothing store. After a successful holiday season, it was renovated into Philadelphia's first modern department store and one of the earliest in America, with a grand opening attended by 71,106 people on March 12, 1877. Between 1861 and 1880, Wanamaker introduced innovations in retail including price tags, electrical illumination, telephones, an in-store restaurant, and pneumatic tubes for transporting cash and documents. From 1904 to 1911, architect Daniel Burnham designed a new retail emporium, Wanamaker's, to replace the Grand Depot. Built around a central Grand Court, it housed the Wanamaker Organ and a 2,500-pound bronze Eagle statue that became a popular meeting place remembered in the phrase "Meet me at the Eagle." In 1911, the Wanamaker Organ, the largest playable instrument in the world, began daily public concerts that continue today, and President William Howard Taft dedicated the building on December 30, 1911. In 1912, Wanamaker's, the first store in the nation to have a wireless, received news of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15. In 1922, the organ concerts were first broadcast on station WOO, and John Wanamaker died on December 12 at age 84, after which his son Rodman Wanamaker continued the business. In 1923, 400,000 Philadelphians contributed $35,000 to raise a statue of John Wanamaker on the east side of City Hall. Rodman Wanamaker died on March 9, 1928, and control passed to a Board of Trustees. In 1955, lighting designer Frederick Yost created the Holiday Light Show for the building's Grand Court, beginning a cherished Philadelphia holiday tradition. The Wanamaker Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1972, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978, the same year the Wanamaker Family Trust sold John Wanamaker & Co. to Carter Hawley Hale Stores. From 1978 to 1987, despite renovation and publicity investments, the retail business declined, and the building was acquired by a real estate developer who converted floors 6 through 12 into offices with an interior atrium mirroring the Grand Court. Floors 4 and 5 were also converted to office space in 1997. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects ranked the Wanamaker Building number 32 among 150 pieces of American architecture. It was designated an Energy Star structure in 2009, received the 2011 Landmark Building Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA, and in 2018 the Grand Court, the Eagle, and the Wanamaker Organ were designated as a Philadelphia Historic Landmark. In 2020, major renovations to the main lobby, atrium, and outdoor plaza were completed for employees and guests of the Wanamaker Building.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States