1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Woolworth, Frank Winfield

WOOLWORTH, FRANK WINFIELD (1852–1919), American merchant, was born near Rodman, N.Y., April 13 1852. He was reared on a farm, studied in the public schools, and graduated from a business college at Watertown, N.Y., in 1872. He began his career as a clerk in Watertown, and it is said that a bargain counter in his employer’s store first suggested to him the idea that resulted in the establishment of the long chain of “five and ten cent” stores that bear his name. Early in 1879 he opened at Utica, N.Y., his first “five cent” store which, however, was a failure. Later in the same year he established a similar store at Lancaster, Pa., followed by another at Harrisburg. The chain in 1920 was composed of about 987 “five and ten cent” stores in the United States, 94 in Canada, and 81 in England. When the F. W. Woolworth Co. was incorporated in New York in Dec. 1911 he became president. In 1912 the Woolworth building in New York City, costing $13,000,000, was completed from the designs of Cass Gilbert. It is 760 ft. high, has 57 storeys, and, excepting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is the tallest building in the world. The gross sales of the company in 1920 amounted to $140,918,981 and the net profits $9,775,251, as compared with $119,496,107 and $10,361,557 respectively in 1919. Woolworth died at Glen Cove, L.I., April 8 1919, leaving an estate appraised at $27,000,000.