The card pictures the Marshall Field & Company department store on State Street in Chicago, a vast granite-clad block rising above a street crowded with pedestrians, carriages and delivery wagons. The retail palace was designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and built in stages from 1892 onward, becoming one of the largest and most influential department stores in the world and the anchor of Chicago's State Street shopping district. The printed caption names it simply the "Marshall Field Building, Chicago."
Postcard Details
Message · English, in pen
Dear Charlotte! This is the largest
store in the world. It is
[illegible]
[illegible]
Undivided-back era layout: a white margin at right carries the printed caption and a handwritten message. Heavy ink speckling/foxing across the sky, worn corners, and small vertical printed imprint at lower right.
Postmark: JAMESBURG N.J. NOV 25 7-AM 19[?] and CHI & N.W. R.P.O. NOV 23 (year cut off). Undivided back with "Nothing but the address on this side"; 1c green Franklin stamp; card stock made in Germany (front imprint); light edge wear and a few foxing spots.
Cite this card
Marshall Field Building, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1905, postcard, c. 1902. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/marshall-field-building-chicago-illinois-circa-1905. Accessed October 24, 2026.
