Marshall Field

When plans for The Merchandise Mart were revealed in 192, Marshall Field's wholesale division had been losing money for at least seven years. In the 19th century, Field had built up his empire through the wholesale trade by acting as a "jobber" or middleman, between manufacturers and merchants; only a small percentage of the company's total profits came from retail sales. That trend began to show signs of reversal at the turn of the century when, between 1886 and 1906, retail sales increased by 450 percent while wholesale sales increased by only 117 percent. Field's wholesale profits continued to decrease until 1920, and thereafter losses were incurred; the ramifications were significant because Chicago had by far the largest market in the nation.

Several factors contributed to the decline. The biggest group of wholesale customers was made up of rural or small town merchants whose businesses began to suffer when the proliferation of railroad lines, automobiles and highways made it easy for consumers to go to the big city to shop. Department stores and chain stores, which purchased their goods directly from the manufacturer, offered wider selections at lower prices. At the same time, manufacturers began to appeal to merchants to "buy-direct" from the factory, thus eliminating the position of a middleman altogether.

Trained by Marshall Field in the wholesale tradition, James Simpson refused to accept the impending death of the trade. As the last of Marshall Field's proteges, Simpson represented the traditional and conservative. But as the dynamic president of his company and the chairman to the Chicago Plan Commission, he was an innovator and reformer and he believed in the power of architecture and planning to effect change. A tired, outdated wholesale trade could be revitalized and updated with an efficient new building.

Simpson's initial plan was to erect "the largest building in the world" of 12 to 16 stories at a cost of 15 million dollars. The purpose was to consolidate Field's wholesale activities, which were scattered throughout the city. A year later, an updated plan was announced. The cost had risen to $30 million; the number of stories to 25 and the name would be The Merchandise Mart. It would not only accommodate Field and Company but other firms as well. The buyer would be enticed to come to this wholesale mecca because the scientifically planned "department store for stores" would eliminate the "wear and tear on his energy that occurs when his wholesale sources are scattered all over town."

Simpson extended the urban theme of his concept by calling The Mart a "town in one building." Other published sources called the building "a veritable city of wholesale firms" and "a city with a permanent population all under one roof " where "there's no running from one side of the city to the other, no climbing up and down back stairs." The Mart would be a planned community, a model of organization where "All merchandise needs are scientifically displayed in well-lit and comfortable showrooms and, the arrangement of displays worked out by floors, section and departments."

All the modern modes of transportation would be accommodated. For the seller, there would be trucking facilities with direct access to major thoroughfares, railroad lines linked to Chicago's underground tunnels and shipping docks at the head of a vast waterway system; for the buyer, an elevated stop, city bus stop, shuttle service and taxi stand.

The Merchandise Mart opened on Monday, May 5, 1930, six months into the Depression. News of the opening was brief, but accompanied by a longer discussion of the closing of the revered Marshall Field Warehouse Store the day before.

In 1931, Marshall Field and Company's losses amounted to five million dollars; the figure rose to eight million in 1932. Simpson, who retired from his position as chairman of the board in 1932 to direct the reorganization of Chicago's utilities companies, remained as chairman of the executive committee. In 1935, still believing that he could save Field's wholesale division, Simpson called in John O. McKinsey, one of the new breed of corporate management "efficiency experts." McKinsey dealt the final blow: Field's jobbing division, the heart and soul of wholesale trade, would have to be eliminated. Within six months of McKinsey's decision, Field's wholesale division was virtually liquidated. Field's reduced its space in The Merchandise Mart from four floors to one and half. The Mart continued to introduce current and avant-garde trends in home furnishings in its showrooms and trade shows.

Events in the late 1930s spurred economic recovery, Marshall Field and Company once again began to record profit. Later, during the years of WWII, The Merchandise Mart experienced the dreary presence of hundreds of government offices. Ironically, this was the time when the completion of the Pentagon in 1943, at 6.2 million square feet, caused a change in The Mart's title from "the largest building in the world" to "the largest commercial building in the world".
In 1945, ownership of The Mart passed from Marshall Field and Company to Joseph P. Kennedy, former ambassador to Great Britain and father of the 35th president. Kennedy attributed his interest in The Merchandise Mart to his "faith in Chicago and the Middle West" and in Chicago's "great commercial and industrial future." Kennedy ushered in a new era of mercantile pride by reviving the original concept of the building and gradually allowing public access.