John WanamakerBorn 11 Jul 1838; died 12 Dec 1922 at age 84.American businessman who founded a department store and adopted new technology in his buildings for publicity. His “Grand Depot” was the first U.S. store to use electric arc lamps (26 Dec 1878) in Philadelphia, Pa. Wanamaker had a major ready-made men's clothing retail clothing business (opened 1861) when he bought (1875) the Pennsylvania Railroad depot for $500,000 and converted it into his innovative Grand Depot department store. The city's Centennial Exposition visitors boosted sales. It became one of the largest U.S. department stores. From 1885, the store was called "Wanamaker's". His stores were a base for experimental wireless from 1910, and in 1922, a radio broadcast station was opened in the store to initiate radio receiver sales.«* |
