Sears Holdings Corp. filed for bankruptcy court protection Monday, a grim development for a company with an illustrious, 132-year history in American business. While recent generations have abandoned or entirely avoided Sears stores, the company was an early innovator in U.S. retail, a godsend to heartland shoppers a century ago, and arguably a more dominant force in the retail industry than Amazon is today.

Here is a look back at the timeline of Sears’ dramatic rise and fall.

1866: Richard Sears, entrepreneurial station agent

Richard Sears, who was born into a wealthy Minnesota family that lost its fortune in a speculative stock deal, was working as a station agent in 1866 when he began selling watches in a side business named “R.W. Sears Watch Co.” Sears meets a watch repairman named Alvah Roebuck, and together they expand the company into selling diamonds and jewelry.

1893: The founding of a retail giant

After selling the first business, Sears moves to Chicago in 1892 and establishes a second mail-order company, renaming it Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1893. The catalog business offers a much larger inventory and lower prices than rural shoppers are used to paying in local general stores.

1906: An IPO and a new plant

Sears listed shares in a public offering in 1906, the same year that it opened a catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower, the first building in what would become a huge, 40-acre office complex. Richard Sears would step down as president the following year due to declining health. He died in 1914. Goldman Sachs managed the Sears’ IPO.

1925: The first Sears retail store opens

On the west side of Chicago, Sears opens its first retail store inside a mail-order plant, including an optical shop and a soda fountain. Meanwhile, the Sears catalog, sometimes known to all customers as the “wish book,” would eventually grow as large as 1,000 pages. By 1930, Sears would operate 300 retail outlets.

1927: Sears launches its in-house brands

Sears pays $500 for the rights to the Craftsman brand in 1927, which would become known for high-quality tools. The Kenmore name begins appearing on washing machines the same year. The two brands would join Allstate, DieHard, and Toughskins as brand names familiar to Sears customers over the decades.

1973: The name on the world’s tallest building

Sears completes the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, moving its headquarters for the first time in a half-century. In the interim, Sears has expanded into countries like Mexico, while becoming a flagship retailer in malls across the U.S.