FT. WAYNE'S NEWEST DEPARTMENT STORE OPENS FOR BUSINESS
NEW STORE OPENS WITH GREAT RUSH
Grand Leader Makes Very Fine Impression With Fort Wayne Public.
HAS 28 DEPARTMENTS
Although the Grand Leader, Fort Wayne's newest department store, opened business at 9 o'clock this morning with a tremendous rush of buyers, the management expressed some disappointment on account of the failure of large shipments of goods from eastern manufacturers to arrive in time for the opening event. But to the visitor at the great store on its opening day, nothing was lacking. The old Fruit House quarters at Wayne and Calhoun streets been transformed as with magic, hand, and beauty, elegance and taste, characterize every appointment of the new commercial enterprise. Handsome as new store is, however, officers of the company insist that the present showing in no way does justice to the complete and varied stocks that will be placed in each of the twenty eight departments of the store. Extensive shipments of goods are en route to Fort Wayne to supplement the big stock already installed, and the management hopes to have every department complete within a short time.
Officers of the Grand Leader company are J. J. Hursch, formerly of Muncie, Ind., and Akron, O., president and genmanager, M. C. Landy, formerly of Snellenberg & Co., Philadelphia, Assistant manager; Raymond Smythe, formerly of Milwaukee, advertising man; Theodore Herr, formerly of the Fourteenth, street department store, New York, in charge of the window and interior decorations.
It is the aim of the Grand Leader company to supply medium and finer grades of merchandise at popular prices. The concern is laying plans for a permanent, growing and lasting business here. It occupies one of the most prominent corners in Fort Wayne, and Straus Brothers & Co. the owners of the site, have pledged themselves to meet the requirements of any growth or expansion which may be made by the store. The intention of the officers and management is to give Fort Wayne one of the most progressive and up-to-date department stores in the middle west.
Fort Wayne's newest department store, the Grand Leader, celebrated its formal opening yesterday morning at 11 o'clock when hundreds of people took advantage of the most sensational opening ever held in Fort Warne. A crowd, blocked the sidewalk on both Calhoun and Wayne streets for more than an hour before the opening. With one grand rush the doors were thrown open and in less than no time the store completey filled with the thrones. Throughout the entire day the store was at all times packed to its utmost capacity by the thousands of visitors.
With incredible celerity the old White Fruit House transformed from a weather beaten, three-story brick grocery store into one of the most beautiful buildings in the middle west. The new artificial stone facing was put on in less than a week, and almost before another looks was afforded the remodeling the long glass fronts display windows were added and the heavy wire nettings, bearing the name and slogan of the store, were placed on both Wayne and Calhoun streets. The display windows were decorated for this special occasion and beyond all doubt attracted more than their share of public attention. That the window trimmers had been rather busy was evidenced by the fact that each of the twenty-eight departments of the store was representeed in some particular section of the immense hundred and seventy feet window display room.
To the officers of the new store, the opening was not as they expected it to be. The management expressed some disappointment on account of the failure of large shipment goods from eastern manufacturers to arrive in time for the opening event. Then, too, finishing touches of remodeling on the interior were not thoroughly completed, some of the fixtures not having been installed.
In preparing for the opening, the management as well an the workmen labored for the last four days and nights to complete enough of the interior Improvements permit the opening yesterday. In all probability, the remaining work will be finished in two or three days. At the present time, extensive shipments of goods are en route to Fort Wayne to supplement the big stock already installed.
The officers the Grand Leader are: J. J. Hursch, formerly of Muncie, and Akron. 0., president and general manager; M. C. Landy, formerly of Snellenberg & Co, Philaddphia, assistant manager; Raymond Smythe, formerly of Milwaukee, advertising manager: Theodore Herr, formerly of the Fourteenth street department store, New York, in charge of the window and interior decorations.
Like all large department stores, the Grand Leader is equipped with a bargain basement, in which special goods are displayed. According to present plans, a grocery department will be placed on the third floor.
Designed by Alvin M. Strauss in the Art Deco style. Built in 1928, was on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Wayne Streets, now the present-day site of the plaza on the north side of the Summit Bank/I&M building. The store became Stillman's in the 1950s, closing in 1974. Today the site is the Indiana-Michigan Power Company's plaza.
Grand Leader: Circa 1929 & 2017 We have a view of the year-old Grand Leader department store at the southeast corner of Wayne and Calhoun Streets. Designed by A.M. Strauss in the Art Deco style, it is somewhat reminiscent of another of his buildings, the Lincoln Bank Tower. The store continued under the name Stillman's in the 1950s until finally closing in 1974. Today the site is the Indiana-Michigan Power Company's plaza.
This rephotograph and several others were commissioned by the Downtown Improvement District. They are currently on display at NOLA on 13.
The Grand Leader along with the entire block was razed to build the One Summit Square (now Indiana-Michigan Power Center) which was begun in 1978 and finished in 1982. The space where the Grand Leader was is now a plaza--popular for food trucks in the warmer seasons. In addition, the entire block to the south of this was also demolished for an enormous parking garage to supplement the development and downtown businesses
It's #waybackwednesday! At the southeast corner of W. Wayne and S. Calhoun Streets sat the Grand Leader Department Store. The prior Grand Leader department store at this location had burned to the ground on December 30, 1927. This new store opened on the same site eleven months later in November of 1928. The store was later renamed as Stillman's for its owner John Stillman and closed in 1974. Prior to the Grand Leader/Stillmans the White Fruit House sat at this corner and just south of it was the Alt Heidelberg Hotel and resturant. Alvin M. Strauss was the architect of this building, which has since been razed.
You may be familiar with architect A.M. Strauss' work in the Lincoln Bank Tower or Embassy Theatre/Indiana Hotel. Among his many commercial and residential designs was the Grand Leader department store, built in 1928, which once stood on the southeast corner of Wayne and Calhoun streets in downtown Fort Wayne (present-day site of the plaza on the north side of the Summit Bank/I&M building).
John Stillman, of Saginaw, MI, opened his first Fort Wayne Grand Leader department store in rented space on Calhoun across from the Cathedral in 1913. This, the seventh store in his chain of Michigan and Indiana stores, was so successful that the next year he moved it to the southeast corner of Calhoun and Wayne into the large building that had previously been home to the White Fruit House.
Five years later, he had the Alt Heidelberg Hotel (next door to the south on Calhoun), razed and a new structure built in its place to expand the existing store taking him from the corner with Wayne up to the north edge of Peoples Trust Bank. This building — now joined together White Fruit building and the new three-story structure — was destroyed in a fire on December 30, 1927 at a loss of $300,000. Stillman hired local architect A. M. Strauss to design its replacement, the pictured beautiful white terra cotta seven-story Zig Zag style Art Deco building that opened on the same site eleven months later in November 1928.
Prior to this time John Stillman, enamored with Fort Wayne, had moved his company’s operations here and in 1917 built a home for him and his family just north of the Noll Mansion, at the northwest corner of Fairfield and Beechwood. Operating under the corporate name of Stillman Dry Goods Company, in 1928 he merged his chain with the (Leo) Federman Department Store chain headquartered in Akron, OH and together they became Interstate Department Stores, Inc. At that point, he and his family moved from Fort Wayne to New York to be closer to the wholesale buying centers.
Interestingly, through the years Interstate Stores both built new stores and purchased other department, discount and variety store retail chains throughout the United States including two toy store chains, one called Children’s Supermart out of Washington, D.C., and another out of Chicago called Children’s Bargain Town. They merged the two together, and today these toy store chains are the only remnants of John Stillman and Leo Federman’s once retail juggernaut, and go by the name of Toys “R” Us.
As for the Fort Wayne store, in the 1950’s its name was changed from Grand Leader to Stillman’s. When the retail flight to the suburbs first arrived here with the opening of Southgate in 1955, they became one of the dozens of retailers bracketing the new locally unheard of 2,500-space parking lot. Stillman’s closed their downtown and Southgate stores in 1974, and the downtown location is now the site of the Indiana & Michigan Power Plaza. (Image courtesy of ARCH)
A tip of the hat to Craig Leonard and Creager Smith for their insights on this piece.
Randy Harter is a Fort Wayne historian, author and the history/architecture guide for FortWayneFoodTours.com
