Introduction

Biography

John was the son of Nel­son Wa­na­mak­er and Eli­za­beth De­shong Ko­cher­sper­ger, and hus­band of Ma­ry Er­ring­er Brown.

He found­ed the Wa­na­ma­ker’s De­part­ment Stores in Phi­la­del­phia, New York and Pa­ris. He in­tro­duced ma­ny in­no­va­tions, such as ad­ver­tis­ing, price tags, a full scale pipe or­gan and a res­taur­ant. A sta­tue of him was erect­ed out­side Ci­ty Hall in Phi­la­del­phia.

Wanamaker was al­so Unit­ed States Post­mast­er Ge­ne­ral in the ad­min­is­tra­tion of Pre­si­dent Ben­ja­min Har­ri­son (1889–93).

Works

• Living Hymns, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890)
• The New Liv­ing Hymns (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1902)