 Marshall Field's State Street Store interior, about 1910 Marshall Field and Company is a department store. Marshall Field obtained employment at a dry goods store in Chicago in 1852. Field rose to become a partner in the company. In 1865, Field with partner, Levi Leiter moved to an old store of Potter Palmer's on Lake Street. In 1868, the two partners joined Potter Palmer in his new store on State Street and ran the store known as Field, Palmer, and Leiter. Shortly thereafter, Palmer retired from retailing. In 1879 a new store was built that would grow to cover an entire city block on State Street. In 1881 Field bought out his remaining business partner and changed the store's name to Marshall Field and Company. In 1907 a new 12-story building replaced the older store, and in 1914 another new 20-story Store for Men was built across the street. It was the largest department store in the world. The Tiffany Ceiling is the first ceiling ever built in favrile iridescent glass. With its restaurants and separate men's and women's lounges, this store became an important social destination. The company built the Merchandise Mart in 1930, which still claims to be the largest commercial building in the world.
Marshall Field's was the first American department store to open a buying office in Europe, which was located in Manchester, England. It was also the first department store to open a sit-down restaurant and the first to offer a bridal registry. The Great Clock at the corner of State and Washington streets is a common symbol of the company and the area.
Every year at Christmas Marshall Field's downtown store windows are filled with animated displays as part of the downtown shopping district display.
Company The company operated 32 stores in 1979.
In 2004 Marshall Field's had about 25,000 employees. It operates only in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Mergers In 1990 Marshall Field's was purchased by the Dayton Hudson Corporation (later renamed Target Corporation) which merged it with the 19 Dayton's stores in Minnesota and the 21 Hudson's stores in Michigan. Those stores were changed to the Marshall Field's name in 2001. In 2004 the combined stores were sold off by Target to the May Department Stores Company along with 9 stores from another branch of Target, the Mervyn's stores. The 62 Marshall Fields stores went for US$3.25 billion.
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