A photograph of the downtown Chicago shopping district, 1905.

This photograph features large crowds of people filling the sidewalks outside of Marshall Field & Co. on State Street in downtown Chicago. Marshall Field & Co. was one of the great department stores at the turn-of-the-century, in a dense shopping district in Chicago. The firm was founded in 1852, but became a destination shopping emporium by the late 1880s. The firm pioneered retail innovations such as revolving credit accounts, personal shoppers, the bridal registry, and elaborate window displays at the holidays.