In 1875, Philadelphia merchant, John Wanamaker, bought a freight railroad depot at 13th and Market Streets and made it Philadelphia’s first department store, the Grand Depot. He built a grander, more spacious store at that same location in 1911, which was called Wanamakers. Wanamaker was in the vanguard of many areas of retail, including merchandising, employee relations, and advertising. Over the years Wanamaker’s expanded to sixteen stores before changes in retailing and a series of buyouts led to its demise in the 1990s. Macy’s currently operates a store in part of the building at the 13th and Market location.

In 1909, Wanamaker bought a huge pipe organ that was built for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. It required thirteen boxcars to transport it to Philadelphia and two years to install it in Grand Court of the new building. Although it had over 10,000 pipes, it was deemed inadequate for the space and over the years more than 18,000 pipes were added.

Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet (1872-1967) was a French painter and medallic artist. He gained his first medal at the Paris Salon while in his teens. At twenty-one years of age, his success continued when the Salon passed that his exhibits did not have to be judged by the committee, but rather were hung as a matter of course. He won a travel scholarship to spend a year in Algeria. He also became an Official Painter of the Third Republic. Through good connections and classical training, he was able to obtain many commissions, some on a grand scale. Important ones include those for the Hotel de Ville of Paris, forty-six panels for the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Caracas, and the Stations of the Cross in Philadelphia. Guillonnet later created artwork for the John Wanamaker store in 1932.