The end of an era

"Marshall Field's," proclaims a British website I visited recently, "is Chicago." And in a very real sense, it was.

But no more. After a series of acquisitions by out-of-town companies beginning in 1982, its current owner- Macy's- decided to end the franchise and put its own name on the remaining Marshall Field's stores. Yesterday- Saturday, September 9, 2006- Marshall Field's faded into history.

Field's was always the real center of gravity on State Street, even though geographically Randolph is a little north of Madison. In Chicago and throughout the Midwest, it was the "classy" department store. Every Christmas, I opened many boxes with the familiar cursive logo on them; it was a good bet that my more upscale relatives would have done their Christmas shopping there, and Mom and Dad usually turned out on Christmas morning to have made a stop or two at State and Randolph themselves. Mom actually worked there for a while, when my sister and I were old enough to start going to school all day; I myself worked one Christmas season for the store up at Water Tower Place, on North Michigan Avenue. By that time, of course, State Street wasn't what it once was, and North Michigan had more or less taken over its niche as the upscale shopping area in town.

But still, the building stood there at State and Randolph, that trademark clock as much a Chicago landmark as Buckingham Fountain or the Water Tower itself.

Yes, in a very real sense, Field's was Chicago. The Walnut Room. Frango Mints. Those green shopping bags. A store your parents made you dress up a little for when the family was going there. A place where you knew that what you bought was pretty much the best quality you were going to find, whether it was clothing or housewares or whatever. An institution. A piece of history. Something that everyone assumed would be there forever.

But not so.

It won't be the same. I'm sure Macy's will continue to provide fine service and excellent merchandise. But a part of Chicago died yesterday. By all indications available here in Des Moines- what I think of as "the far-Western suburbs-" the people back home know it, too.

Chicago- and Chicagoans everywhere- are in mourning today for a special part of our childhood, our history, our identity. The 1870's building will still be there. So will the clock.

But Field's itself is gone- and no. It just won't be the same.

Photo: David K. Staub