Beautifully engraved Certificate from the May Department Stores Company issued no later than 1959. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle on a mound. This item has the printed signature of Morton May as president and is over 46 years old.
Certificate Vignette 1910 -- The May Department Stores Company was incorporated. 1911 -- The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In St. Louis, May acquired the William Barr Dry Goods Company and combined it with The Famous Clothing Store to become Famous-Barr. May Merchandising Company was formed under the original name of The Sostman Mercantile Company and became May Merchandising in 1969. 1923 -- May acquired the A. Hamburger and Sons department store in California and renamed it May Company. 1927 -- May acquired the Bernheim-Leader department store in Baltimore and renamed it The May Company. It became part of Hecht's in 1959. 1946 -- May acquired Kaufmann's, a department store company in Pittsburgh. 1957 -- May acquired The Daniels & Fischer Stores Company in Denver and renamed all its Denver stores May D&F. 1959 -- May acquired Hecht's, a department store company with stores in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. May's single store in Baltimore was merged into Hecht's. 1965 -- May acquired the G. Fox department store company in Hartford, Conn. 1966 -- May acquired the Meier & Frank department store company in Portland, Ore. 1974 -- May Department Stores International began operations. 1986 -- May acquired Associated Dry Goods Corporation, including Lord & Taylor, headquartered in New York City. Strouss, in Youngstown, Ohio, was consolidated with Kaufmann's. 1987 -- The Denver Dry Goods Company was consolidated with May D&F. 1988 -- May acquired Foley's in Houston and Filene's in Boston. 1989 -- O'Neil's was consolidated with May Company, Ohio; seven Goldwaters' stores were consolidated with other divisions; and six Hahne's stores in New Jersey were consolidated with Lord & Taylor. 1990 -- May acquired Thalhimers, based in Richmond, Va. Sibley's, based in Rochester, N.Y., was consolidated with Kaufmann's. 1992 -- Thalhimers was consolidated with Hecht's, and the L.S. Ayres department store division was consolidated with Famous-Barr. 1993 -- May Company and Robinson's, in Los Angeles, were consolidated to create Robinsons-May; May Ohio was consolidated with Kaufmann's; G. Fox was consolidated with Filene's; and May D&F was consolidated with Foley's. May Merchandising and May Department Stores International were moved to the St. Louis corporate headquarters. 1994 -- May acquired 10 stores from Hess's in Pennsylvania and New York State. Six of the stores were consolidated into Kaufmann's, two into Hecht's and two into Filene's. 1995 -- May purchased 16 Wanamaker and Woodward & Lothrop stores in the Philadelphia area and in Washington, D.C. Fourteen of the stores were consolidated into Hecht's and two into Lord & Taylor. 1996 -- May purchased 13 Strawbridge & Clothier stores in the greater Philadelphia area. The stores were consolidated into Hecht's and are operated under the name Strawbridge's, along with eight other stores in the Philadelphia market. 1998 -- 1998 - May purchased 13 stores, including 11 former Mercantile locations. Nine of the acquired stores were consolidated into Famous-Barr, seven of which are operated under The Jones Store name in Kansas City and Topeka. 1999 -- May achieved its 25th year of record sales and earnings per share and increased its annual dividend rate to 93 cents per share. May purchased 13 Zions Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) stores in Utah and Idaho that were consolidated into Meier & Frank. The stores opened January 31, 2000. 2000 -- May acquired David's Bridal, the nation's largest retailer of bridal gowns and other bridal-related merchandise.