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John Wanamaker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For his department store, see Wanamaker's.
| John Wanamaker | |
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| In office March 5, 1889 – March 4, 1893 |
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| Preceded by | Donald M. Dickinson |
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| Succeeded by | Wilson S. Bissell |
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| Born | July 11, 1838 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | December 12, 1922 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Mary Erringer Brown Wanamaker |
| Profession | Politician, Merchant |
John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922) was a United States businessman, civic and political figure, considered the father of modern advertising. Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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He opened his first store in 1861, called "Oak Hall" at Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia. It was on the site of George Washington's Philadelphia home as President. Oak hall grew substantially based on Wanamaker's at that time revolutionary principle: "One price and goods returnable". In 1869, he opened his second store at 818 Chestnut Street and capitalizing on his own name (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.
John Wanamaker's son Thomas B. Wanamaker purchased a Philadelphia newspaper called 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 conservative religious views.
He opened his first New York store in New York City in 1896, continuing a mercantile business started by A. T. Stewart, and continued to expand his business abroad with the European Houses of Wanamaker in London and Paris.
A larger store in Philadelphia was then designed by famous architect Daniel H. Burnham, and the 12-story granite "Wanamaker Building" was completed in 1910 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, which still stands today, was dedicated by US President William Howard Taft, and houses the world's largest instrument, the Wanamaker Organ, and the 2,500-pound bronze "Wanamaker Eagle" in the store's Grand Court, which became a famous meeting place for Philadelphians simply saying, "Meet me at the Eagle." The Wanamaker building and the Grand Court became a Philadelphia institution.
Wanamaker was an innovator, creative in his work, and a merchandising and advertising genius, though modest and with an enduring reputation for honesty. 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, Wanamaker simply fired the first twelve union members who were discovered by his detectives. [1]
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. 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 1897.[2]
However, Wanamaker's tenure at the Post Office was riddled with scandal, including the firing of some 30,000 postal workers during his 4-year term, which caused severe confusion and inefficiency. In 1890 he commisioned 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. Wanamaker 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, where Wanamaker was believed to have financial ties. [3]
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.[4]
At his death in 1922, his estate was estimated to be $100 million (USD), divided equally between his three living children: son Rodman Wanamaker who was made sole inheritor of the store businesses (Rodman died in 1928 leaving the businesses with a documented worth of $35 million in a trust); and daughters Mary "Minnie" Wanamaker Warburton (Mrs. Barclay Warburton) and Elizabeth Wanamaker McLeod who both received substantial stocks, real estate, and cash instruments. Son Rodman Wanamaker is credited with founding The PGA of America, and the Millrose Games. Son Thomas B. Wanamaker died in 1908.
John Wanamaker owned homes in Philadelphia, Cape May Point, NJ, New York, Florida, London, Paris, and Biarritz. One was his city townhouse at 2032 Walnut Street, which was modeled similar to an English manor house. His other house was the Lindenhurst mansion[5] in Cheltenham on York Road, below Washington Lane (). A station - Chelten Hills (below Jenkintown) - was constructed in addition to his vast mansion.[6] A family trust owned the Wanamaker's store chain, run by trustees appointed by Rodman Wanamaker's will, until 1978 when the business was sold to Carter Hawley Hale, Inc.
John Wanamaker was a Pennsylvania Mason. The John Wanamaker Masonic Humanitarian Medal was created by resolution of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania at the December Quarterly Communication of 1993. It is to be awarded to a person (male or female) who, being a non-Mason, supports the ideals and philosophy of the Masonic Fraternity. The recipient of this medal is one who personifies the high ideals of John Wanamaker - a public spirited citizen, a lover of all people, and devoted to doing good. The award is made at the discretion of the R. W. Grand Master. The medal has been presented sparingly, to maintain the great prestige associated with an award created by resolution of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge. In addition to the John Wanamaker Masonic Humanitaria Medal, The Pennsylvania Grand Lodge also awards the Franklin Medal for Distinguished Masonic Service, and the Thomson Award for Saving a Human Life.
Bronze busts honoring Wanamaker and seven other industry magnates stand between the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
- Prior to his death, Wanamaker had been the last surviving member of Benjamin Harrison's Cabinet.
- Popular saying illustrating how difficult it was to reach potential customers using traditional advertising is attributed to John Wanamaker: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." [7]
- ^ Goldberg, Judith Lazarus. Strikes, Organizing, and Change: The Knights of Labor in Philadelphia 1869-1890 (PhD NY University 1985, pp. 342-3
- ^ http://www.usps.com/history/his2.htm#RURAL History of the United States Postal Service, 1775-1993, "Rural Free Delivery"
- ^ "John's Miserable Stamps" New York Times, August 10, 1890 p.14; "Wanamaker's Latest Crime" Boston Globe, August 1, 1890; Political Career of John Wanamaker" Justice (Wilmington, DE), February 19, 1898 p. 1; "A Little 'Job' in Clothes" New York Times, July 5, 1891 p. 2
- ^ "Repeats Suggestion That We Buy Belgium" New York Times, June 24, 1915 p. 4
- ^ Lindenhurst
- ^ http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Montgomery_County/Cheltenham_Township.html
- ^ The Quotations Page
- Robert Sobel (1974). "John Wanamaker: The Triumph of Content Over Form", chapter 3 in The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley), ISBN 0-679-40064-8
- John Wanamaker: A retailing innovator
- Who Made America? (John Wanamaker, Innovator)
- Works by John Wanamaker at Project Gutenberg
| Preceded by Don M. Dickinson |
United States Postmaster General 1889 – 1893 |
Succeeded by Wilson S. Bissell |
| United States Postmaster Generals |  |
|---|---|
| Cabinet Level: Osgood • Pickering • Habersham • G Granger • Meigs • McLean • Barry • Kendall • Niles • F Granger • Wickliffe • Johnson • Collamer • Hall • Hubbard • Campbell • A Brown • Holt • King • Blair • Dennison • Randall • Creswell • Marshall • Jewell • Tyner • Key • Maynard • James • Howe • Gresham • Hatton • Vilas • Dickinson • Wanamaker • Bissell • Wilson • Gary • Smith • Payne • Wynne • Cortelyou • Meyer • Hitchcock • Burleson • Hays • Work • New • W Brown • Farley • Walker • Hannegan • Donaldson • Summerfield • Day • Gronouski • O'Brien • Watson • Blount
Non-Cabinet Level: Blount • Klassen • Bailar • Bolger • Carlin • Casey • Tisch • Frank • Runyon • Henderson • Potter |