McAlpin's was a Cincinnati-based department store founded in 1852 as Ellis, McAlpin & Co. It would then be called McAlpin, Polk and Hibbard. Then to be called McAlpin, Polk and Company, and eventually to The George W. McAlpin Company. It's founder was George Washington McAlpin born July 4, 1827 in Cincinnati, who came from the Alexander McAlpin linage of Scotland. Alexander McAlpin can be traced to King Kenneth, the first Scottish King, as the McAlpin genealogy cites. Alexander McAlpin came to New York from Scotland in 1746 crossing the Atlantic with both parents dying on the journey. Alexander was taken in by a family and allowed to keep his name. McAlpin's opened their landmark downtown location on Fourth Street in 1880. George died in 1890 and his brother William took control and grew the business. In 1954, McAlpin's became the first Cincinnati department store to open a suburban site, in the Western Hills Shopping Center. The clock on Fourth Street still stands today that William McAlpin placed there for the city in 1901. George Washington McAlpin was a director at the First National Bank of Cincinnati. The family lived on Lafayette Ave in Clifton. Many of McAlpin's descendants live in Kentucky. George Washington McAlpin was Alexander McAlpin's grandson and his father was Solomon McAlpin a Revolutionary War General who lived in Huntsville, Alabama where his house still stands today. Alexander McAlpin had nine sons one who was Alexander McAlpin Jr., brother to George Washington McAlpin. Roots to Lexington, Kentucky by the McAlpin Store started in 1967 when another McAlpin store was opened in that year in Lexington's Turfland Mall. George's great-great-great grandson Timothy J. McAlpin, a Lexington, KY businessman and author [born October 23, 1956] lives in Lexington, Kentucky today. George W. McAlpin accumulated one of the largest fortunes in Cincinnati and was a financial and civic leader in the city. His activities included director of Cincinnati Fire Insurance Co., trustee at Lane Theological Seminary, Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati Orphan Asylum, Spring Grove Cemetery, and served on the City Council for 15 years. He was an organizer and Elder at Immanuel Presbyterian Church and donated three of their stained glass windows.
Two decades later in 1910, McAlpin's became a division of Mercantile Stores. In 1990, Mercantile moved their corporate headquarters to Fairfield, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.
As retail companies consolidated, McAlpin's remained roughly the same. That ended in 1998 when McAlpin's parent company, Mercantile, was bought by Little Rock, Arkansas based Dillard's. All McAlpin's stores were subsequently converted to the Dillard's name that year.
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