Donaldson's

Donaldson's, previously known as the L. S. Donaldson Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a defunct department store company. History Scottish immigrant William Donaldson opened a small store in Minneapolis in 1881, located at 310 Nicollet Avenue. In 1883 William and his brother Lawrence purchased a 1 1/2 story store named Colton and Company, featuring a large expanse of glass block. The Donaldson brothers department store was known in its early years as "Donaldson's Glass Block Store" because of this distinctive design feature. In 1888 the original building was demolished, and replaced with a five story building featuring a dome on top, elevators, and rows of plate glass windows. By 1899 William had died, and Lawrence renamed the company the "L.S. Donaldson Company." The store continued to expand, which culminated in the construction of a new $2,000,000 (~$ in ) eight story building, taking up an entire block of Nicollet from Sixth Street to Seventh Street, topped by the distinctive dome from 1888. The new store opened to great fanfare November 10, 1924. The dome was eventually dismantled in April 1942, and turned into war materials during the Second World War. Lawrence Donaldson had remained as president of L.S. Donaldson Company until his death in 1924. Dying just 4 months before the opening of the new store in Minneapolis, Lawrence Donaldson didn't live to see the store he had dreamed of and envisioned. He was succeeded by Joseph Chapman as president. In an effort to further expand and have greater buying power, while retaining their management and name, L.S. Donaldson Company merged with Hahn Department Stores Inc. in 1928. In 1935, Hahn's recapitalization plans resulted in a name change; and Hahn Department Stores Inc became known as Allied Stores Corporation. Expansion