The start of Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving at State and Monroe streets in Chicago in 1906. Mandel Bros. and Marshall Field’s department stores drew huge crowds at holiday time, even at the start of the 1900s.
View of holiday decorations on State Street looking north from Madison Street in 1941.
Children press themselves against a downtown Loop store window during the 1936 holiday season.
Christmas shopping caused a traffic jam in the Loop in December 1952 as thousands of shoppers converged on downtown stores, including Mandel Bros., background, at the corner of State and Madison streets.
There’s something interesting in that showcase, but Mrs. Lucille Anderson keeps a tight rein on little Michael, 2, as she pauses in her Christmas shopping to talk with others on Dec. 20, 1947.
Workmen install a giant 45-foot-tall Christmas tree in the Marshall Field’s Walnut Room on Nov. 20, 1959.
Holiday shoppers on State Street in downtown Chicago in 1947.
Holiday decorations are put on downtown light poles at State and Washington streets in Chicago in November 1940.
Christmas shoppers board a motor coach with their arms full of holiday purchases from Loop stores at State and Madison streets on Dec. 10, 1937.
A Maxwell Street vendor tries to entice late Christmas shoppers with ornaments and dolls on Dec. 24, 1944.
The Marshall Field’s window display during the holiday shopping season in 1928. Lavish, intricate department store windows used to draw large downtown crowds.
Frantic shoppers on Christmas Eve in 1935 pause at State and Madison streets to listen to carolers touring the Loop on a horse-drawn wagon.
Mary Joe Wolf, 3, is shown in the arms of Santa Claus, alias Isaac Newman, while her mother, J. A. Wolf, shops in Chicago, circa December 1930.
Children view a holiday window at Wieboldt’s department store on State Street on Dec. 22, 1969. A railing was placed in front of the window to hold back the crowd.
Christmas is in the making as decorators working from a three-story scaffold trim the Christmas tree in the Walnut Room at Marshall Field’s State Street store on Nov. 20, 1966, in Chicago.
Workmen install a large reindeer on State Street at the start of the Christmas shopping season in 1948.
The week before Christmas finds the Loop jam-packed on Dec. 17, 1949. Here’s the afternoon crowd on State Street, struggling almost shoulder to shoulder.
Children look over a Christmas window display at Mandel Bros. department store in December 1959.
