In 1878 Ellen Garretson married Jeptha Homer Wade II, grandson of the Western Union Telegraph founder. The Wades often traveled and Nellie would have visited the Fifth Avenue firm Moschowitz & Russell to be fitted for this elaborate dress. The firm imported Parisian materials and no detail was overlooked, from delicately embroidered flowers to the sinuous, trained silhouette. Today, the Wade family’s impact can be experienced through the cultural institutions that they helped establish in University Circle, including the Cleveland Museum of Art and the WRHS.