The 1850s saw Warsaw starting to grow and expand at a rapid rate, especially the Main Street area. The bluff had been recently cut down and Main Street had been opened up to the river. Retail opportunities were numerous and buildings were being constructed along the main drag.
One of the town’s first merchants William Daniels had began a mercantile establishment at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. It was operated out of a row of small buildings in the area then known as the Hoppe Brick Row. This row of buildings were eventually razed to make way for the Farmers State Bank in 1920. The mercantile offered a wide variety of shoes, boots, caps, gloves, and a large stock of both women’s and men’s clothing as advertised in the Warsaw Express in 1855. The business continued to grow and expand until tragedy struck and would change everything.
William Daniels’ young wife Sarah had contracted cholera and passed away within a few days. She was a member of one of Warsaw’s pioneer families. The Knox family was involved in several early enterprises in Warsaw. Sarah Knox Daniels is buried near the entrance of Oakland Cemetery in Warsaw.
William Daniels remained in Warsaw for a few years and then followed the gold rush to Colorado. Not having luck in the gold fields, however, he did make a strike in the retail climate in Denver. He was often referred to as the Marshall Field of the West.
By 1864 Daniels saw a great opportunity and opened a dry goods store in Denver, then a frontier town, and established himself as a key figure in the city’s early development.
In the early 1870s Daniels partnered with William G. Fisher to form Daniels and Fisher and Co., transforming his dry goods store into a full fledged department store. It soon became a prestigious retail destination, offering a wide range of merchandise and luxury goods to Denver’s expanding population. For generations Daniels and Fisher was the place to see-and-be-seen in Denver. The store offered high end fashion, home furnishings and specialty items and gave special consideration to employees giving them a cafeteria, lounge and an in-house hospital. A clock tower was constructed in 1911 and became a defining feature of downtown Denver, and was connected to the multi-story department store, which spanned 400,000 square feet at its peak.
Daniels and Fisher remained a central part of Denver’s retail landscape until the store closed in 1958. The clock tower was preserved as a historic landmark and affords a beautiful view of downtown Denver and the Rocky Mountains to the west.
William Daniels passed away in 1890, but left a Lasting impact on Denver and helped shape the city’s retail culture.