An Exonumismatic Connection to a Philadelphia, PA Landmark
BillJones
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During a recent trip to Philadelphia to attend the Early American Coppers convention, I walked though the former John Wannamaker's Department Store which is now run by Macy's. If you are ever in Philadelphia you really should see this place. There is a huge foyer on the first floor which is five floors high. In it there is a huge pipe organ. Unfortunately I missed the concert they gave that day. A lady and her family told us that she had driven in that day from the suburbs to hear it. Hat's off to Macy's for continuing the traditions and policies of John Wannamaker!
The main display that I recalled was this large bronze eagle. I can still remember climbing on it when I was perhaps four or five years old. It has a numismatic connection in that it was taken from the 1903 Louisiana Purchase Exposition which was held in St. Louis, Missouri. Commemorative coin collectors might recall the Jefferson and McKinley gold dollars that issued during that event.
Finally I spotted this plaque which was on the floor. It commemorated a speech given by President William Howard Taft in 1911 at the opening of the store.
I immediately remembered a token that I have in my collection that marked that event. Why did Taft come to Philadelphia to give this speech? The store owner, John Wannamaker, was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee when Taft won the presidency in 1908. It is connections like this which make collecting political tokens fun.
Comments
Great history...thanks for sharing!!! You should have climbed up on that eagle for old times sake!!!
Thanks for the info.
I'd also love to hear that pipe organ, bet it would sound real nice in there.
I had completely forgotten about that eagle. As a small child I also climbed up on the base.
I was curious to see if the eagle was still there. The way things are going in the brick and mortar retail business these days, I could have seen the eagle replaced by a cosmetic stand with the bird sent out for scrap. Fortunately Macy's has left the Wannamaker store pretty much intact so far.
Macy's has not been doing well recently. I hope that does not bode badly for our bronze feathered icon.
It would probably be sold in auction for a bundle.
that Bronze would never be sold as scrap.
All that will be needed for the eagle to take flight is a disgruntled major shareholder.
What a cool story!
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Bill, you're the best! Super cool post.
What is the letter on the truncation?
Very cool.
Great story Bill and really nice pictures. Cheers, RickO
This was also the filming location for the movie "Mannequin" with Andrew McCarthy. It was the department store where he worked at.
Wonderful write-up, Bill. It brought back childhood memories. Love the bronze bird. Everyone understood when you said, "meet me at the eagle".
Another interesting numismatic connection to the Wannamaker Building and its Grand Court is that it was designed by famous Chicago architect Daniel Burnham.
Burnham was largely responsible for the design and construction of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair), a remarkable achievement that dwarfed other world's fairs with its scope and grandeur and foreshadowed the coming notion of "American Exceptionalism".
The 1893 fair, of course, gave us our first commemorative coin, the Columbian Half Dollar (and not long afterwards, the Isabella Quarter Dollar).
Lance.
If Macy's got rid of it, I wonder if someone from the "general public" could buy it. That would be neat!
WOW! Beautiful coin!