Rowland Hussey Macy

Rowland Hussey Macy, Sr. (August 30, 1822 – March 29, 1877) was an American businessman who founded the department store chain R.H. Macy and Company.

Life and career

Macy was the fourth of six children born to a Quaker family on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. At the age of fifteen, he worked on the whaling ship Emily Morgan and had a red star tattooed on his hand, which became part of the store's logo. He married Louisa Houghton (1820–1888) in 1844, and had three children: Charles A. Macy (1845-1846); Rowland Hussey Macy, Jr. (1847–1878); and Florence Macy (1853–1933), who married James F. Sutton.

Between 1843 and 1855, Macy opened four retail dry goods stores, including the original Macy's store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts, established in 1851 to serve the mill industry employees of the area. They all failed, but he learned from his mistakes. Macy moved to New York City in 1858 and established a new store named "R.H Macy Dry Goods" at Sixth Avenue on the corner of 14th Street, significantly north of other dry goods stores of the time. On the company's first day of business on October 28, 1858 sales totaled $11.08, equal to $302.49 today.