In the mid-19th century Alexander Turney Stewart (1803-1876) was America's leading retail dry-goods merchant and an outstanding dry-goods wholesaler. His innovations in merchandising profoundly affected American retail trade.

Alexander Stewart was born on Oct. 12, 1803, in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland. With his inheritance, he opened a retail store in New York City in 1823, having emigrated to the United States somewhat earlier. A merchandising genius, he introduced a new type of dry-goods store in 1846 that was the precursor of the department store. In this mercantile showplace, Stewart sold a wide range of merchandise. Successful, this store was expanded so that by 1850 Stewart had the largest establishment of this kind in New York City, the largest mercantile center in the nation. In 1862 he again pioneered when he erected a grander store constructed on iron structural beams.

Mid-19th-century America witnessed the development of three variants of mass marketing: the department...