Hello, Just went to find information on the history and found this page. It offers a nice, success story: Mr. Kresge initiated the new department store chain on his 56th birthday. He began his career as a school-teacher at $22 a month, and after having been successively insurance agent, furnishings salesman, department store bookkeeper, tin-plate salesman, he went into business for himself with a capital of $8,000 with J. G. McCrory-now head of another large store system. >From a single store in Detroit, the Kresge stores have expanded to a system of 223 stores throughout the country, which last year handled $65,000,000 of goods. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,727350,00.html Also, I'm just finding this site. It looks like it is for "TIME" magazine, and you can "search" there - possibly for old articles. The above article was from 1923: http://www.time.com/time/ Here's another brief history of "Kresge's." More than one hundred years ago, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit...and changed the entire landscape of retailing. The store that Kresge built has evolved into an empire of more than 1,500 stores and an Internet presence that reaches millions of customers. The Kmart name has become a symbol of Americana, standing for quality products at low prices. When Kresge opened his first store in 1899, he sold everything for 5 and 10 cents. The low prices appealed to shoppers and allowed him to expand to 85 stores in 1912, with annual sales of more than $10 million. http://www.searsholdings.com/about/kmart/history.htm Further looking on-line shows that Sebastian KRESGE bought a department store in NJ, and then in 1920's opened a K-Mart store. I think it's saying that Kresge's did not become a K-Mart. It was just another purchase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kmart --- I just checked census information and KRESGE is a big Pennsylvania name. It doesn't show up until 1860, but many families were there and born in PA, so it must have had a different spelling before then. This is the first time I see Sebastian. He has a wife and no children. I wonder what the original spelling was. KRESGE, SEBASTIAN (1900 U.S. Census) MICHIGAN , WAYNE, 17-WD DETROIT Age: 33, Male, Race: WHITE, Born: PA Series: T623 Roll: 753 Page: 278 Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) List Administrator