Palmer instituted a "no questions asked" returns policy and allowed customers to take goods home to inspect before purchasing, which served to nurture the goodwill and patronage of Chicagoans.

When Palmer's doctor urged him to get out of the business in 1865 because of ill health, he brought in partners Marshall Field and Levi Leiter.

In 1867, Palmer sold his share of the partnership and went on vacation in Europe for three years before returning to Chicago to focus his efforts on his real estate interests, leasing a new building to his former partners in 1868 at State and Washington.

He built several buildings along State Street "on three-fourths of a mile frontage," including the Palmer House Hotel.

[3] When his buildings were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, Palmer borrowed $1.7 million to rebuild, the largest amount lent to a private individual up to that time.