The Lincoln-Liberty Building, completed in 1932, was intended to partly house a large men's department store and offices. The building's cornerstone was set on October 1, 1932, with a ceremony attended by William L. Nevin and Wanamaker executives from New York City, Paris and London. The Wanamaker Men's Store opened on October 12, 1932, with four Wanamaker buglers blowing a reveille and the ringing of the building's Founder's Bell. Opening during the Great Depression, Nevin said the new building was a sign of the store's faith that the economy would improve. Intended to rival European department stores in size and selection, the men's store ordered US$2 million worth of merchandise and was the largest store of its kind in the world. As early as 1939 there were rumors the men's store would close, but Wanamaker's would not close the store unless a replacement tenant would agree to rent the space. When a new tenant was ready to take the store's place in the 1950s, the men's store was relocated to the Wanamaker Building down the street.
