Founded as Taylor, Kilpatrick, and Company in 1870, Taylor's was part of the big six department stores (
Halle's,
May's,
Higbee's,
Sterling-Lindner Davis, Bailey's, and Taylor's) in Cleveland. All six are now distant memories in Cleveland history. Taylor's was closely compared with
Harrods and
Selfridges in
London in regards to its elaborate styling of architecture and the fact that it kept much British merchandise in stock. On October 24, 1941, Taylor's celebrated their flagship store's 26th birthday at the now demolished Hollenden Hotel, where the
Fifth Third Center now stands on Superior and East 6th Street. Taylor's (the store) had throughout its history gone through a succession of Taylors who operated and owned the store. This started with William Taylor (1832-1887) and his son John Livingstone Taylor (d.1892) who joined the firm in 1887, then when John died in 1892, the business went to Sophia Strong Taylor who managed and was president of the store until 1935, when she handed the reins over to her brother Charles H. Strong who was president until 1939, when it changed hands again to a man who was sympathetic to the minority owner of Taylor's, the May Company. Eventually the department store catered to lower-middle-class patrons which fit in well with May Company's model to expand their clientele to include this often neglected demographic. In fact, in 1945, May completed a $2 million expansion of the store and began to invest heavily in the company. However, by 1961, not even twenty years later, it was closed. ==668 Euclid==