Loop Retail Historic District is a shopping district within the

Chicago Loop The Loop is Chicago's central business district and one of the city's 77 municipally recognized Community areas in Chicago, community areas. Located at the center of downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is the second-largest busi ...

community area in

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

, United States. It is bounded by Lake Street to the north, Ida B. Wells Drive to the south, State Street to the west and Wabash Avenue to the east. The district has the highest density of

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artist ...

designated buildings in Chicago. It hosts several historic buildings including former department store flagship locations

Marshall Field and Company Building The Marshall Field and Company Building is a department store building and National Historic Landmark on State Street (Chicago), State Street in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts and C ...

(now

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

at State Street), and the Sullivan Center (formerly Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building). It was added to the

on November 27, 1998. (includes map of district) It includes 74 contributing buildings and structures, including 13 separately listed

Registered Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, and 22 non-contributing buildings. Other significant buildings in the district include the Joffrey Tower,

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark Theater (structure), theater located on North State Street (Chicago), State Street in the Loop, Chicago, Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 19 ...

Palmer House Palmer House may refer to: In the United Kingdom * Palmer House, Great Torrington, an 18th-century house in Devon In the United States Items in this section are alphabetized by state, then city. * Palmer House (Blackton, Arkansas), listed on th ...

, and Page Brothers Building. It also hosts

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

's College of Commerce, which includes the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and the Robert Morris College. The district is most commonly associated with

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

buildings. In its heyday the district hosted seven prominent department stores from which six buildings remain today. These include the aforementioned Marshall Field and Company Building, and Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Buildings as well as the

A. M. Rothschild & Company Store ( pic) at 333 S. State St. The other department store buildings are contributing properties.

History

The district's period of historic significance was 1872–1949. In the late 1860s,

Potter Palmer Potter Palmer (May 20, 1826 – May 4, 1902) was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street (Chicago), State Street in Chicago. Born in Albany County, New York,Palmer House Palmer House may refer to: In the United Kingdom * Palmer House, Great Torrington, an 18th-century house in Devon In the United States Items in this section are alphabetized by state, then city. * Palmer House (Blackton, Arkansas), listed on th ...

hotel on State Street in 1870. He had also convinced

Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field's, Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of qua ...

and Levi Leiter to move the Field, Leiter & Co. store to State Street in 1868. Chicago's retailing center was State Street (anchored by

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (colloquially Marshall Field's) was an American department store chain founded in 1852 by Potter Palmer. It was based in Chicago, Illinois and founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, ...

) in the downtown Loop after the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

of 1871. Convenient

mass transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

such as

streetcars A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and elevated trains, supported a retail corridor along State Street from Lake Street to Van Buren Street. State Street became a shopping destination during the 1900s, and is referred to in

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

's song

Chicago (That Toddlin' Town) "Chicago" is a popular music, popular song written by Fred Fisher and published in 1922 in music, 1922. The original sheet music variously spelled the title "Todd'ling" or "Toddling." The song has been recorded by many artists, but the best-kno ...

, where Frank refers it to "State Street, that Great Street." At one time seven major department stores were situated on State Street: Benson & Rixon, Karolls, Charles A. Stevens and Mandel Brothers (in addition to Marshall Field's and Carson, Pirie Scott). However Chicago evolved and by the 1920s, commuter suburbs began to have significant retail districts. After 1950, suburban development reduced the role of the Loop's daily significance to many Chicagoans as downtown retail sales slipped. However, the

Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile (sometimes locally abbreviated to the Mag Mile) is the approximately one-mile-long stretch of Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River to Oak Street (Chicago), Oak Street on the Near North Side ...

kept a luxury shopping district close to the central business district. In 1979, Chicago Mayor

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of ...

converted the downtown portion into a

pedestrian mall Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

with only bus traffic allowed. Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

oversaw the State Street Revitalization Project and on November 15, 1996, the street was reopened to traffic. In addition, the

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

Red Line serves State Street and the elevated trains of the Chicago 'L' serve Wabash and Lake streets in this district. Current revitalization is catering to the mix of student residents and other new residents with the newly available residential spaces.

Gallery

File:Carson Pirie Scott Building on Lincoln's 100th Birthday.jpg, Carson Pirie Scott Building on Lincoln's 100th Birthday File:Palmer House Hotel.jpg,

Palmer House Hotel The Palmer House – A Hilton Hotel is a historic hotel in Chicago's Loop area. It is a member of the Historic Hotels of America program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The first Palmer House opened in 1870, and the present b ...

Ladies Entrance File:Masonic Temple (Chicago).jpg, Masonic Temple, 1900 File:Later Masonic Temple with new Marshall Field Building.jpg, Masonic Temple with new

, 1911 File:Mandel Brothers Store.jpg, Mandel Brothers Store

Notes

External links

City of Chicago Loop Community Map
{{National Register of Historic Places Historic districts in Chicago Central Chicago Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois