So maybe I'm the only one who collects
famous retailer trading cards.....
BUT IT MADE ME A BIG WINNER THIS WEEK!!!!
Aaron Montgomery Ward was the answer for this week.
--He published the first general merchandise mail order catalog in 1872
--His offices were originally on North Clark St.
Probably a Starbucks now....
which ironically,
I was in my first Starbucks on Saturday.
Not a fan at all of coffee or tea.....
but the girls ordered some "Shittachino"...
and it tasted like a shake to me.
Maybe that was French for "shake"?
I am now a fan......I know....
welcome to the new millennium.
--Richard Sears copied Ward's catalog and came out with his copy in 1896
--Big fan of expanding and preserving Lake Park which was renamed Grant Park in 1901
also a fan of stopping future construction in the park.
--Ward was known as the "Watch Dog of the Lakefront".....
led the landfill expansion also.
Lake Michigan originally was positioned just to the east of the train lines that ran behind the Art Institute.
--The expanded Grant Park was built on a lot of the construction debris left from the Chicago Fire of 1871.
--His head, among other retailers, line the Retailer Hall of Fame outside of the Merch Mart.
Ward built his tower before Sears did.....
it was on the corner of Madison/Michigan.
It's still there but they cut off the tower and made it condos.....read below.
http://designslinger.com/2012/12/17/six-north-michigan---montgomery-ward--co-tower-building.aspx
FDR was not a frequent shopper......
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-seizes-control-of-montgomery-ward
He's currently chilling on North Ravenswood Ave.
in the Rosehill Cemetery....
which is a another subject....
for another week.
Marty
Washington D.C.
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