Marshall FieldFounder of Marshall Field & Co.

By Irene Rojas

Who was Marshall Field?

-Born Aug. 18, 1834 in Conway,Massachusetts-Moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1856 insearch of greater job opportunities-Found Marshall Field & Company (Chicagobased dept. stores) in 1881

Opening of the Company

-Joined several business partnerships such asFarwell, Field, & Co. and Field, Palmer, & Leiterbeginning in 1863-Bought out Field,Leiter,and Co and renamed itMarshall Field & Co in 1881

Tactics for Success

-Sold only high quality goods, usually imported-Salespeople always available and excellentcustomer service-Offered full refund on all products-Stores had services such as a nursery, arestaurant, telephones, rest rooms, homedelivery, and more

Achievements

-First to create concept of a singlemarked price, and offering a full refund-Great customer service was not verycommon at the time-Many of the services offered in thestore were not offered anywhere else-First company to have a departmentstore tea-room

Achievements cont’d

-First to have an office outside the country,located in Manchester, England-Had a bridal registry in the store: never beforeseen-First store to offer revolving credit-Had escalators and Christmas book signingsonce in a while: once again not common at thetime

Martha Macy’s Christmas Tree in Marshall Field’s Walnut Room

Charities and Legacy

-Donated land to the University of Chicago-Donated money to the Chicago Natural HistoryMuseum-Helped found the Chicago Academy of Fine Artsin 1879, later renamed The Art Institute ofTechnology-Funded the Field Museum of Natural History-His family continued to run the company formany years after his death in 1906

Field Museum ofNatural History

Works CitedImages:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/116/296841658_42ac5a01a8.jp

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/48/20071016065615!Marshall_field.jpg

http://patsabin.com/illinois/marshallfieldretail.jpg

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/74/11874-004-6E369667.jpg

http://www.mapseeing.com/wpcontent/uploads/2007/05/windowslivewriterfieldmuseumofnaturalhistory-9aebmape3540a034fe9.jpg

Information:

Garraty, John A., and Mark Carnes, eds. “Field, Marshall.” American National Biography.Vol. 7. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999. 887-88 Print.

Daniel, Robert L. “Field, Marshall (1834-1906).” Encyclopedia Americana. 2009. GrolierOnline. 22 Sept. 2009. <http://ea.grolier.com/article>