George Huntington Hartford joined Gilman &amp; Company as a clerk perhaps in the late 1850s; Hartford later was promoted to bookkeeper, then cashier, in 1866. By 1871 Hartford was in a position of authority and was responsible for expanding A&amp;P to Chicago after its great fire. A&amp;P's first store outside New York City was opened just days after the disaster. The firm rapidly expanded; in 1875 A&amp;P had stores in 16 cities. In 1878, Gilman left the active management of the firm to Hartford. By then, the firm operated 70 lavishly-equipped stores and a mail order business with combined annual sales of $1 million.