John G. Shedd

Who was John G. Shedd?

John Graves Shedd was the second president and chairman of the board of Marshall Field & Company.

Born on a New Hampshire farm, Shedd arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1871 and began working as a stock clerk for Marshall Field. By 1901, he had worked his way up to a vice-presidency and took over as president upon Field's death in 1906. Field himself described Shedd as "the greatest merchant in the United States," and, indeed, under Shedd's presidency Marshall Field & Company became the largest store in Chicago and the largest wholesale and dry goods company in the world.

Shedd was a civic leader and founding member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, which continues to play an active role in the city's efforts to maintain itself as a world-class metropolis. One of the Commercial Club's most notable undertakings was the sponsorship of Edward Bennett and Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago, which was released in 1909 and which to this day is considered to be one of the most important urban planning documents ever created.