Jordan Marsh Announces New Store
On this day in 1947, Jordan, Marsh and Company announced that it was going to build "the greatest department store in the world" in downtown Boston. Almost a hundred years earlier, in 1851, Eben Jordan and Benjamin Marsh had gone into business together. They began by selling linen, silk, and other dry goods to wholesale customers. Ten years later, they expanded into retail sales. After the Civil War, Jordan Marsh introduced the concept of "department shopping." The store offered a wide range of goods, personal service, easy credit, art exhibitions, and musical performances. It soon became a treasured part of middle-class life in the Boston area. Many people mourned when the company was sold, and the Macy's name went up on Jordan Marsh stores.
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