Robert Hall Clothier, Inc., popularly known simply as Robert Hall, was an American retailer that flourished from about 1937 to 1977. Although based in Connecticut, its warehouse-like stores were mostly concentrated in the New York and Los Angeles basins.
This store is identical to the 2900 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, location.
According to a Time magazine story of 1949, the corporate name was a complete invention; the actual founder was a garment merchant, Jacob Schwab, who "plucked the name out of the air."
Public Domain Photograph.
Robert Hall pioneered the low-overhead, large-facility ("big-box") merchandising technique and combined inexpensively made goods with extensive radio and television advertising. Many Americans who grew up in the 1950s and 60s recall the commercial jingles of those times.
The company also operated outlets called Robert Hall Village. Robert Hall's clothing was sold alongside other merchandise in stores of approximately 120,000 square-foot in what's considered one of the forerunners of the discount superstore concept. Non-clothing retail areas were leased to other companies.
Robert Hall Clothes Ghost Sign is located at 1185 South State Street, Chicago, Illinois.
They were known for their inexpensive men's suits... about $50.00 in its heyday, with no charge for alterations. A joke made the rounds that the suits would fall apart at the seams in short order after being tailored. So truthful was that comment that eventually comical skits about the suits' quality became common.
In July 1977, Robert Hall's parent company, United Merchants and Manufacturers, filed for bankruptcy, citing losses from the Robert Hall chain as the reason for filing. All Robert Hall stores were closed, and inventory was auctioned off.
After the Bankruptcy, Lyons Office Supply Company took over Chicago's Devon Avenue location.
Photograph by William Marsh, May 20, 1860, Springfield, Illinois. One of five photographs taken by William Marsh for Marcus Lawrence Ward. Although many in the East had read Lincoln's impassioned speeches, few had actually seen the Representative from Illinois. Colorized photograph prior to Lincoln growing a beard in November of that year.
"That central idea in our political system at the beginning was, and until recently continued to be, the equality of men. And although it was always submitted patiently to, whatever inequality there seemed to be, as a matter of actual necessity, its constant working has been a steady progress toward the practical equality of all men. In what I have done I cannot claim to have acted from any peculiar consideration of the colored people as a separate and distinct class in the community, but from the simple conviction that all the individuals of that class are members of the community, and in virtue of their manhood entitled to every original right enjoyed by any other member. We feel, therefore, that all legal distinction between individuals of the same community, founded in any such circumstances as color, origin and the like, are hostile to the genius of our institutions, and incompatible with the true history of American liberty. Slavery and oppression must cease, or American liberty must perish. In Massachusetts, and in most, if not all, the New-England States, the colored man and the white are absolutely equal before the law. In New-York the colored man is restricted as to the right of suffrage by a property qualification. In other respects the same equality prevails. I embrace with pleasure this opportunity of declaring my disapprobation of that clause of the Constitution [of Illinois], which, denies to a portion of the colored people the right of suffrage. True Democracy makes no inquiry about the color of the skin or place of nativity, or any other similar circumstance of condition. I regard, therefore, the exclusion of the colored people as a body from the elective franchise as incompatible with the true Democratic principle."
December 26, 1860 - Atlas & Argus, Albany, New York, (weekly: 1856-1865)
The above Lincoln quote paints the picture of a politician who firmly believed in the social equality of Colored and White people in the United States. In reality, Lincoln NEVER said these words and he vehemently denied that he ever did!
Believed to be the first statue in Chicago to commemorate Christopher Columbus, this monument was dedicated in December 1892, marking the 400th anniversary of the explorers’ voyage to the Americas.
Walking past the Drake Fountain on LaSalle Street outside City Hall, Chicago. (1906)
The 7½ foot bronze figure is of Columbus as a young man with a globe in hand. The fountain is inspired by Gothic architecture and small granite columns and curving buttresses rise up 33 feet to the pointed spire on top.
Now located in Richard Henry Park, 92nd Street, and Exchange Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
Originally located downtown on the Washington Street side of City Hall in 1892 to provide chilled drinking water to those in the Loop, the fountain was moved to the LaSalle side in 1906. The fountain dispensed into four granite basins that is still listed on the monument: ice water. A surviving example of Victorian-era public drinking fountains, it was hoped at the time that it would be an alternative to nearby saloons. The fountain was moved twice as the city razed buildings and redirected the flow of traffic.
Now located in Richard Henry Park, 92nd Street and Exchange Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
In 1909, Southeast Chicago residents complained about the lack of public art in their part of town and were able to get the fountain move to the location where it still stands in Richard Henry Park on 92nd Street and Exchange Ave. The Drake Fountain was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2004. Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.
