State & Madison, 1955

State Street, "That Great Street" was once a main route south through the state of Illinois, hence its name. From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s it was one of the world's leading retail centers, with a dense concentration of such famed department stores as Carson Pirie Scott, Mandel's, Rothschild's, The Fair, Boston Store, Lytton's and Marshall Field's. The intersection of State and Madison Streets is the starting point for the city's north-south and east-west street address-numbering system.