C. F. Hovey Company records

In 1841, Charles Fox Hovey entered into a partnership with Washington Williams and James H. Bryden. Calling themselves Hovey, Williams and Company, the three men worked as importers and wholesale dealers in dry goods, with offices located at 65 Water Street, Boston. Hovey, however, developed an interest in the retail side of the business, and in 1846, Hovey, Williams and Company joined Richard C. Greenleaf and John Chander, who already owned a retail dry goods store on Washington Street. Within a short time, the establishment moved to 13 Winter Street, the first commercial firm to locate in the area. Eventually the company settled on Summer Street. In 1848 the company was renamed C. F. Hovey and Company.

C. F. Hovey and Company became an innovator in department store merchandising. Plainly marked goods with a one-price system, the adoption of early closing hours, profit-sharing for employees, and a credit system, utilizing monthly bills, were just some of the now-standard practices first appearing in Hovey’s. In addition to the store in Boston, the company maintained offices in New York and Paris.

After Hovey's death in April 1859, the store continued to bear his name. C. F. Hovey and Company was noted for the quality of its merchandise as well as for the longevity of its management and partners. William Endicott, Jr., Henry Woods and Samuel Johnson, hired in 1846, became partners in 1851. Woods and Johnson remained with Hovey’s until their respective deaths in 1902 and 1899; Endicott retired in 1910 after a remarkable sixty-four years in the business. Jordan Marsh took over the company in 1947.