Editing Marshall Field's (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Marshall field interior.jpg|thumb|150px|left|The atrium of the Marshall Fields' State Street store, nicknamed the "Great Hall", circa 1910]]
Marshall Field & Company traces its antecedents to the '''P. Palmer & Company''', a [[dry goods]] store opened at 137 Lake Street<ref name=PDX>[http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/marshall_fields.html PDX History of Marshall Field's]. Retrieved August 20, 2006.</ref> in 1852 by [[Potter Palmer]]. In 1856, 21-year-old [[Marshall Field]], from [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]], moved to Chicago on the southwest shores of [[Lake Michigan]], and found work at [[Cooley, Wadsworth & Co.|Cooley, Wadsworth & Company]], then the city's largest dry goods firm. In 1860, just before the [[American Civil War]], Field and bookkeeper [[Levi Leiter|Levi Z. Leiter]] became junior partners in the firm, then known as Cooley, Farwell & Company. In 1864, the firm, then led by senior partner [[John V. Farwell|John V. Farwell, Sr.]], was renamed Farwell, Field & Company.<ref name=ECH1>[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2660.html Encyclopedia of Chicago History – John V. Farwell & Co.]. Retrieved August 19, 2006.</ref> only for Field and Leiter to soon withdraw from the partnership with Farwell when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.<ref name=ECH>[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2663.html Encyclopedia of Chicago History – Marshall Field & Co.]. Retrieved August 20, 2006.</ref>

Potter Palmer, plagued by ailing health, was looking to dispose of his thriving business; thus, on January 4, 1865, Field and Leiter entered into partnership with Palmer and his brother Milton. The firm of P. Palmer & Company became known as '''Field, Palmer, Leiter & Company''', with Palmer financing much of their initial capital, as well as his own contribution. After Field and Leiter's immediate success enabled them to pay him back, Palmer withdrew from the partnership in 1867 to focus on his own growing real-estate interests on one of the burgeoning city's important thoroughfares, [[State Street (Chicago)|State Street]];<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2663.html|publisher=Chicago Historical Society|year=2005|encyclopedia=The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago|access-date=2008-03-02|title=Field (Marshall) & Co.}}</ref> Milton Palmer left at this time as well. The store was renamed '''Field, Leiter & Company''', sometimes referred to as "Field & Leiter".

The buyout, however, did not bring an end to Potter Palmer's association with the firm. In 1868, he convinced Field and Leiter to lease a new, six-story edifice<ref name=JAC>[http://chicago.urban-history.org/ven/dss/fields.shtml Jazz Age Chicago] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927065743/http://chicago.urban-history.org/ven/dss/fields.shtml |date=2011-09-27 }}. Retrieved August 20, 2006.</ref> he had just built at the northeast corner of State and Washington Streets. The store was soon referred to as the "Marble Palace", owing to its costly [[marble]] stone face.