The $65 million merger which created F. W. Woolworth Co. in 1912

From the late 19th century until 1912 Frank Woolworth headed a consortium of friendly rival dime store companies, each trading under its Founder's name. Most of the proprietors were either relatives or former work colleagues. William Moore had been Frank's boss and is credited with setting up the first five cent table in his Watertown dry goods store and funding Frank's first stores. Fred Kirby was a co-worker in Watertown, while Seymour Knox was Frank's cousin and Charles Sumner Woolworth was his younger brother. Only Earle Charlton had joined from the outside.

The larger chains incorporated between 1905 and 1908, selling shares to Managers and friends. The idea was a money-spinner which also afforded some protection against a hostile takeover. Meanwhile new entrants were copying the formula, opening rival five-and-tens next door to Syndicate branches.

Woolworth used to tell his managers and syndicate partners that the best store to have next door was a rival five-and-ten, because this would demonstrate his superior value and better range of products. But, despite the rhetoric, he had to invest heavily to beat off the competition. In response he bought lines for a dollar and placed them on sale for ten cents at the weekend as a spoiling tactic. On one occasion the windows of the Lancaster, Pennsylvania store (right) were changed five times in a single night until his competitors gave up and went to bed.

McCrory, Kresge, N.M. Rothschild and J.J. Newberry were considered a significant threat and merited special attention. Their activities were closely monitored, with syndicate members coming up with lots of schemes plan to confound the rivals.

In the end Frank came up with a masterplan - merge all of the syndicate members into a single super company, massively larger than the rivals, and (by selling shares on the stock market) make money too. He believed that the new corporation would be too big to take over and that the move would allow each of the founders to see a return on their hard work, making them very rich indeed. They could continue to hold as many shares as they wanted. The others weren't so sure - particularly when Frank made clear that as the Buyer for the syndicate and the proprietor of the largest number of stores (including the fledgling but already successful operation in the UK), he would be the new President, with his name alone on the masthead.

Syndicate members came round to the idea when their brokers started to explain just how much the merged company might be worth.  In the end they reluctantly agreed to the name, subject to the condition that the ampersand ("&") be removed.

From 31 January 1912 all of the stores in North America changed their name to F.W. Woolworth Co. The fascias were progressively replaced over the following decade. Only the British company, which had been incorporated as F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd., kept its original name. The UK operation was classed as a non-consolidated subsidiary in the merger.

By way of an epilogue to the story, on the eve of the $65m merger on 31 January, 1912, Fred Morgan Kirby wrote to a member of his staff to express his mixed feelings of sadness and hope for the future. His letter concludes "I sincerely hope that your relations with the new Company will be as pleasant as they have been with the old management. I shall sadly miss the personal connection."

Within ten years just one store from each of the founders carried their name on the fascia. Sadly in recent years even those stores have vanished as Footlocker Inc. adapted their lines of business to concentrate on footwear.

The $65m merger brought great riches to each of the Founders. Each man gave generously during his lifetime and left a sizeable portion of his estate to good causes. The charitable trusts, scholarships, foundations, art centres and hospitals that carry their names continue to do much good work in the twenty-first century.