[2] At the age of 17, he moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he first worked in a dry goods store alongside his brother Joseph Field.

[3] He left Massachusetts after five years of working in the dry goods store in search of new opportunities in the rapidly expanding West.

Field took an early 19th-century consumer landscape that was centered around the principle of caveat emptor, or "let the buyer beware", and transformed it into a plush shopping experience fit for the Gilded Age.

Unconditional refunds, consistent pricing and international imports are among the Field innovations that became standards in quality retailing.

Field's employees were also instructed not to push products on uninterested customers, a common practice in stores of the period.

During the time of the Haymarket Riot, the wives of the defendants initiated an appeal, to which all of the local businessmen agreed except for Field.

Journalist and reformer Henry Demarest Lloyd led a national campaign to grant clemency.

Even bankers like Lyman J. Gage favored clemency, believing that moderation would lead to improved relations between capital and labor.

A number of other men confided to Gage that they were not willing to publicly disagree with Field, the wealthiest and most powerful businessman in Chicago.

The circumstances of his death are still uncertain, and proposed explanations have included suicide, domestic accident with a gun, and shooting by a prostitute from the Everleigh Club.

In 1904, Field married longtime friend Delia Spencer, the widow of Arthur John Caton.

"[17] He relented after railroad supplies magnate Edward E. Ayer, another early benefactor (and later the first president) of the museum, convinced Field that his everlasting legacy would be achieved by financing the project.