Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company traces its antecedents to a dry goods store opened at 137 Lake Street in Chicago, Illinois in 1852 by Potter Palmer, (1826–1902), eponymously named P. Palmer & Company. In 1856, 21-year-old Marshall Field (1834–1906) moved to the booming midwestern city of Chicago on the southwest shores of Lake Michigan from Pittsfield, Massachusetts and found work at the city's then-largest dry goods firm – Cooley, Wadsworth & Company. Just prior to the American Civil War, in 1860, Field and bookkeeper Levi Z. Leiter, (1834–1904), became junior partners in the firm, then known as Cooley, Farwell & Company. In 1864, the firm, then led by senior partner John V. Farwell, Sr., (1825–1908), was renamed Farwell, Field & Company. only for Field and Leiter to soon withdraw from the partnership with Farwell when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
Alfred Marshall (businessman)
Marshall began his post-war career by working as a welder and contractor. He then purchased a fruit stand, which he expanded into a supermarket. By the 1950s, Marshall was selling wholesale products out of his supermarket, including sundries, baby supplies, and cosmetics. In 1956, Alfred Marshall opened a new addition to his existing supermarket, located in Beverly, Massachusetts, utilizing funding provided by two business partners. This location became the first Marshall's department store. (The company later dropped the apostrophe from the name). The original Marshalls location remained open for decades. However, the first store eventually closed and is currently the site of another supermarket, as of 2014.