McCormick Place #1 (11-18-1960)

"The new, gleaming jewel of the lakefront" was dedicated today.  That would be the first McCormick Place.

The grand exhibition hall was the pet project of the Tribune's longtime publisher, Col. Robert R. McCormick.  He believed that Chicago needed the biggest and best convention facility in the nation, "a booming center for commerce, industry, and culture."  He began his campaign in 1927.

Clearly, the city's existing halls weren't doing the job.  The problem with McCormick's plan was the site.  He wanted to build on the lakefront, near 23^rd Street.  To most Chicagoans, the parkland along the lake was sacred.  Any attempt to gobble it up was greeted with suspicion.

After the Colonel died in 1955, the Tribune continued to push the project.  When Mayor Richard J. Daley signed on, the dream became a reality.  Ground was broken on the controversial site in 1958.  Two years and $35 million later, McCormick Place was completed.

The formal dedication began with a dinner for 500 movers-and-shakers.  In his speech, the mayor called the new facility "a monument to Colonel McCormick and his love for Chicago."  Then the distinguished guests toured the building.  They marveled at the amazing statistics--the interior of McCormick Place was 1005 feet long and 300 feet wide, six football fields could fit on the main exposition floor, the cafeteria could serve 1,800 persons an hour, the hall's Arie Crown Theatre had 5,081 seats--and so on.

The next day, McCormick Place opened for business with the World Flower and Garden Show.  During its first year, the facility hosted 4.5 million people at 28 major expositions.  The Colonel's hall was fulfilling all his expectations.

There was only one problem--McCormick Place was ugly.

The exterior of the building was unadorned concrete.  It looked like an industrial storage warehouse, or a giant mausoleum.  By 1967, there was already discussion about remodeling the place.

Then a fire conveniently destroyed the monstrosity.  A new McCormick Place was built on the foundations of the old one.  The steel-and-glass replacement opened in 1971.  Other buildings have been added in the years since, and today the various McCormick Place facilities have a total exhibit space of over 2.6 million square feet.

UNKNOWN CHICAGO SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, November 19, 1960:1,3,4.