The first Macy’s Store

The first Macy’s store was in Marysville?
Well, yes. Sort of.

The Macy’s brothers, (Charles and Rowland), saw the wisdom of catering to the hordes of gold seekers in the mid 1800’s. With the help of other investors, they set up a general mercantile and dry goods store in 1850 under the name “Macy & Co.”.

In addition to dry goods, Macy & Co. also acted as a bank, since buyers often paid in gold dust.
A newspaper advertisement for Macy, Low & Co. read: “Gold dust bought, at the highest market rates. Advances made on gold dust, general and special deposits received.”

The original store was located near the river so they could easily receive cargo shipments all the way from San Francisco. Nearly right outside the building was the point of debarkation for riverboats from San Francisco and Sacramento filled with miners on their way to the dig sites. The store was basically on the corner of D and Front street on the river side, and D and 1st street. on the city side.

The efficient concept of placing the store near the river, also come with its drawbacks.
With the advent of hydro drilling for gold mining, the river bottom rose as it filled with all of the dirt from the mountain sides being washed down the river. The more shallow river bottom lead to flooding. It also clogged the passageway for the supply boats.

The Macys and their partners dissolved the partnership “by mutual consent” before the end of September 1850

The Name “Macy & Co. was purchased and used by E. W. Tracy, who continued to invoke the name Macy & Co. in large print in his advertisements for the store six months after purchasing it from Macy and his partners. The new location was at 2nd and Maiden lane.

Rowland Macy returned to the East Coast, after learning more about merchandising in the West, and went on to found the more famous retail store, Macy’s.
Charles, stayed in Marysville as an agent for Adams Express, a freight company. He is buried at the Marysville City Cemetery.

A plaque was dedicated to this first Macy’s store. The plaque sits at the corners of D and 1st street.
The store Charles and Rowland Macy started was 210 feet due west of the street corner monument the Sutter Parlor 261 of the Native Sons of the Golden West dedicated on Saturday. Presently, the plaque is being repairs due to a couple misspelled words.