After Macy’s announced in November 2023 its plans to close approximately 150 locations across the United States, some Philadelphians fretted – not so much about the fate of the Center City department store, but about a local treasure housed inside. What would happen to the 120-year-old Wanamaker organ and annual Christmas light show? As a historian of Philadelphia and historic preservation , I recognize the panic as a familiar response to the economic changes that have been shaping the city for 75 years. As city leaders have struggled to develop an economic anchor for downtown, the historical and cultural features of the city have drawn more enthusiastic visitors than the retail businesses meant to profit from them.
Concern for the Wanamaker organ speaks to the ongoing challenge of preserving urban landmarks that remain tied to a consumer economy. The visionary retailer John Wanamaker unveiled the organ to Philadelphians in 1911 . Forty years after he had opened his first clothing store, he installed the organ as a showpiece of his new commercial palace’s seven-story Grand Court to add music and culture to the shopping experience.
A deep dive into the archives of The Philadelphia Inquirer shows how Philadelphians came to see the organ as a defining feature of the city’s historic character. From its earliest days, advertisements touted the Wanamaker organ as “ The Greatest Organ in the World .” Wanamaker had brought it from St.
Louis , where it had debuted at the 1.
