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Lasalle & Koch Co. or Lasalle's was a
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
in
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...
, Ohio, with branches in some nearby communities.


History

Lasalle's traces its beginnings to a store opened in 1865 by Jacob Lasalle and Joseph Epstein, at 51 Summit Street. In 1883, Joseph Koch joined the business, which relocated to a new store at the corner of Summit and Adams Streets. In 1900, the Lasalle & Koch Co. opened a new store at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Superior Street. This store was enlarged several times, and in 1916, ground was broken for a new store at Adams and Huron Streets. The Lasalle & Koch Co. opened its flagship downtown Toledo store at 513 Adams Street in 1917. The company was purchased by R.H. Macy Co. in 1923. In November 1927, Lasalle & Koch Co. completed the addition of three upper floors, and to celebrate, commissioned mural artist
Arthur Covey Arthur Sinclair Covey (June 13, 1877 – February 5, 1960) was an American muralist whose paintings depicted industrial workers doing their jobs. Personal life Covey was born in Leroy, Illinois on June 13, 1877 and was married to Mary Dorothea ...
to create a series of paintings about Toledo-area industries which were exhibited in the store's display windows. Lasalle and Koch retained a great deal of autonomy, with Alfred B. Koch, son of Joseph Koch, serving as president until his untimely death in 1937. He was succeeded by another Lasalle and Koch veteran, Louis Epstein. During the postwar era, Lasalle's expanded by opening branches in the downtown shopping districts of smaller Northwest Ohio cities: Bowling Green (1945), Tiffin (1947), Sandusky (1949), and Findlay (1955). In late 1957 and most of 1958, there was a 13-month-long strike against Lasalle's and two other Toledo department stores, Lamson's and The Lion Store, by the
Retail Clerks International Association The Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU) was a North American trade union, labor union that represented retail clerk, retail employees. History The RCIU was chartered as the Retail Clerks National Protective Union in 1890 by the American Fede ...
, which later became the
United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...
. The strike was settled by a "Statement of Understanding" under which the striking workers were reinstated to their jobs but the union was not recognized. In 1962, Lasalle's opened their first suburban Toledo location, a free-standing store at Toledo's Westgate Center. Lasalle's third Toledo store, in the
Woodville Mall Woodville Mall was an enclosed shopping mall off of Woodville Road ( State Route 51) in Northwood, Ohio, outside the city of Toledo, Ohio. The mall opened in 1969 and, after losing most of its stores in the 2000s, became a dead mall. The mall's ...
, east of Toledo in suburban Northwood, opened in 1969. It was the first Lasalle's store in an enclosed shopping mall. Their fourth Toledo location, the .
North Towne Square NorthTowne Square, briefly known as Lakeside Centre, was a shopping mall in Toledo, Ohio developed by Simon Property Group. The three-anchor tenant mall opened in 1981 near the Ohio-Michigan border in anticipation of a home construction boom on ...
store, opened in 1980.


Consolidation and sale

All Lasalle's stores were converted to the Macy's name in 1981. At the time of the name change, Lasalle's operated the flagship downtown Toledo store, and suburban branches at Westgate, North Towne Square, and Woodville Mall. Lasalle's also had stores in the downtown shopping districts of Bowling Green, Sandusky, Findlay, and Tiffin. In 1981, Lasalle's and Macy's Missouri-Kansas were consolidated into a new division known as
Macy's Midwest Macy's Midwest was a former American division of Macy's, Inc. based in St. Louis, Missouri. It had operations in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 2008, Macy's Midwest division mer ...
. Following the name change in 1981, Macy's Midwest closed the Lasalle's executive offices, credit department, and buying department, and moved their functions to Kansas City. (This earlier incarnation of Macy's Midwest should not be confused with the one headquartered in St. Louis, which followed the Federated acquisition of Macy's.) After two years of gradually reducing the floor space of the downtown store by closing floors, Macy's Midwest closed the downtown flagship store. The stores in Bowling Green, Sandusky, and Tiffin were closed between 1982 and 1985. Macy's sold the remaining Toledo area and Findlay stores and their Toledo warehouse to Dayton retailer
Elder-Beerman The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 sto ...
in 1985. Elder-Beerman now operates a store at the Westgate Village Shopping Center at 3301 Secor Road in Toledo as well as in communities near Toledo including
Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is a city in Wood County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 30,808 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located southwest of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, it is part of the Toledo metropolitan area and ...
,
Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city in Monroe County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 20,462 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomously. M ...
,
Adrian, Michigan Adrian is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Lenawee County, Michigan, Lenawee County. The population was 20,645 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Adrian lies in Michigan's 5th congressional district. The c ...
,
Findlay, Ohio Findlay ( ) is a city in Hancock County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The second-largest city in Northwest Ohio, Findlay lies about 40 miles (64 km) south of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. Its population was 40,313 at the 2020 United Sta ...
,
Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). At the 2020 United Stat ...
and
Defiance, Ohio Defiance is a city in Defiance County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 17,066 at the 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers about southwest of Toledo and northeast of For ...
. The Toledo North Towne Square and Woodville Mall stores have since closed, and Findlay store was relocated to the Findlay Village Mall by Elder-Beerman in the late 1980s. The only remaining former Lasalle's store was the Elder-Beerman at Westgate Village, which closed in 2018 with the chain and was torn down in 2023. The downtown Toledo building stood neglected and vacant for thirteen years. In 1996, developers converted the store to apartments and retail space. The building is part of the
Madison Avenue Historic District Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Mad ...
. The downtown Sandusky store was converted into offices for Erie County, Ohio in the 1990s. The current Macy's store in Toledo's
Franklin Park Mall Franklin Park Mall is a super-regional shopping mall in Toledo, Ohio. It is anchored by Dillard's, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and DSW. There are two vacant anchor stores formerly occupied by Macy's and Forever 21, both of which closed in ...
has no connection with the Lasalle's stores. It was opened in 1971 by the J.L. Hudson Company of Detroit. Hudson's and Dayton's had merged in 1969, but each division kept their respective identities and divisional management. All Dayton-Hudson stores adopted the Marshall Field's nameplate in 2001, during which time corporate parent Dayton-Hudson had adopted the name of their former subsidiary, Target. The May Co. purchased Marshall Field's from Target Corp. in 2004, after some speculation that the department store business was dragging down Target's corporate profits. In 2005, the May Co. itself was bought by Federated. On September 9, 2006, the Franklin Park store became a Macy's, as did the rest of the Marshall Field stores.


Notable employees

*
Betty Ford Elizabeth Anne Ford (; formerly Warren; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy, and set a precedent as a politi ...
, former saleswoman


Gallery of Historical Images of LaSalle and Koch Company and Store

File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, First Floor, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 7d240957874e98e6798b1becd182c0da (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, First Floor, Toledo, Ohio, The Lasalle and Koch Company, First Floor, Toledo, Ohio File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, Third Floor, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 3b0ed131dd9560db34f8a4df519c7e4c (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, Third Floor, Toledo, Ohio, The Lasalle and Koch Company, Third Floor, Toledo, Ohio File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fourth Floor, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 972f6a669b124e5952e19ee78e903106 (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fourth Floor, Toledo, Ohio , The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fourth Floor, Toledo, Ohio File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fifth Floor, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 58c4d849ded90e44c019823b2aa4661c (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fifth Floor, Toledo, Ohio, The Lasalle and Koch Company, Fifth Floor, Toledo, Ohio File:The French Room, Lasalle and Koch Company, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 3d855f2da7e117cbd765e7d04b903abd (page 1).jpg, alt=The French Room, Lasalle and Koch Company, Toledo, Ohio, The French Room, Lasalle and Koch Company, Toledo, Ohio File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - ded34bba7c8e92b479fc576320974106 (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio, The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio File:The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 1d1ea0e6d69e38729cf55326347d2d8f (page 1).jpg, alt=The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio, The Lasalle and Koch Company, advertisement, Toledo, Ohio File:Horse drawn delivery wagon for LaSalle and Koch - DPLA - 3d22f09863d8888e1a507ea7f0978bca.jpg, Horse drawn delivery wagon for LaSalle and Koch


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lasalle and Koch Macy's Companies based in Toledo, Ohio Defunct department stores based in Toledo, Ohio 1918 establishments in Ohio