1900s – 1951
1900: Foley Brothers was opened by brothers Pat and James Foley, two young and enterprising Irishmen, on February 12 with $2000 borrowed from an uncle. The 1400 sqft store located at 507 Main Street in Houston, Texas, was stocked with calico, linen, lace, pins, needles, and men's furnishings.
1905: With business booming, Pat and James purchased the building next door and added ready-to-wear clothing for women and children as well as millinery.
1911: The store moved to the 400 block of Main Street and was incorporated with capital of $150,000 (~$ in ).
1916: Foley Brothers ranked third in retail volume in Houston with $400,000 (~$ in ) in sales. The original 10 employees had grown to 150, and the company had 750 active charge accounts and 23000 sqft of space.
1917: Pat and James sold Foley Brothers to George S. Cohen and George's father, Robert, a Galveston merchant. Foley Bros. grew tremendously under this new management and by 1919, sales neared $1,000,000 (~$ in ).
1922: Foley Bros. moved into a three-story building next door to 400 Main Street. Later that year, the store became the city's largest department store. Shoes, a beauty shop, and radio sets were included.
1941: When the United States entered World War II, Foley Bros. diverted the efforts of the advertising and personnel departments to bond drives and other wartime services. All sales promotions were suspended during this time.
1945: Federated Department Stores president Fred Lazarus, Jr., came to Houston to visit his son, who was stationed at a nearby Army camp. Mr. Lazarus discovered that Foley Bros. was for sale and bought it.
1947: Foley's opened at 1110 Main Street on October 20 in downtown Houston.[8] Federated spent $13 million to build this new store, which was heralded by the press as the nation's "most modern department store".
1951: The first official Foley's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.
1960–1999
1960–1967: Sharpstown, Foley's first branch store opened. Pasadena, Almeda-Genoa, and Northwest stores soon followed.
1971–1979: Memorial City and Greenspoint opened in Houston, and Highland Mall opened in Austin.
1980–1987: San Jacinto, North Star, Willowbrook, Barton Creek, West Oaks, Ingram Park, Deerbrook, Post Oak, College Station, and Padre Staples opened.
Federated merges Foley’s and Dallas-based Sanger Harris as Foley’s.
1988: The May Department Stores Company acquired Foley's in Houston and Filene's in Boston from Federated.
1989-1991: Rolling Oaks Mall (San Antonio), The Parks at Arlington (Arlington), Tucson Mall, and Vista Ridge Mall (Lewisville) opened
1993: The May D&F division in Colorado and New Mexico was consolidated with Foley's, creating a 49-store division that was the largest in May Company.
2000–2006
2000–2004: NorthPark Center, Broomfield, Hurst, Baybrook Mall, Beaumont, Cielo Vista, Houston Galleria, Lake Charles, Golden Triangle Denton, and Sunland opened, some at former Montgomery Ward sites. Foley's acquired one McRae's store and two Parisian stores in Louisiana. Cortana Mall and the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge and Acadiana Mall in Lafayette joined Foley's. Memorial City and Baybrook reopened in new buildings.
2004: The May Department Stores Company acquired Marshall Field's, which was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. May's seven divisions now included Foley's, Filene's, Robinsons-May, Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Lord & Taylor, and Marshall Field's
