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(Above) Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (left) and other dignitaries switch on a drill made by Case Foundation Company to officially break ground at Marina City on November 22, 1960. At far right is Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil. To his right is Charles Swibel and to his right is Bertrand Goldberg. Next to Goldberg is Hughston M. McBain, who was president of Marshall Field & Company from 1943 to 1959. In the upper left corner is William A. Lee, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor from 1946 to 1984.
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Tuesday, November 22, 1960. 14 days ago, John F. Kennedy, with the help of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, was elected president. Sammy Davis Jr. married Swedish actress May Britt nine days ago. In two days, in one NBA game, Wilt Chamberlain will make 55 rebounds.
At 11:00 a.m., a Who’s Who of notable Chicagoans, General Electric representatives, and construction workers gathered in a temporary structure on State Street to give speeches, be photographed in front of and on construction equipment, and officially break ground at Marina City.
Geoffrey Goldberg was at the groundbreaking ceremony along with his father, Bertrand Goldberg. Geoffrey was five years old at the time, but says he remembers a lot of energy at the groundbreaking, and an optimistic “euphoria” of the times. Photographs of the event show the mood was light.
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Howard Swibel, meanwhile, was ten years old when he attended the groundbreaking ceremony with his father, Charles. “I remember the groundbreaking vividly,” he says. President-elect Kennedy spoke to the group by telephone, he recalls. “I remember they had this big drill and someone pulled a lever and the thing started turning the ground.”
(Left) At Marina City groundbreaking ceremony, William McFetridge speaks by telephone with President John F. Kennedy. (Click on image to view larger version.)
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The guest list that day included...
- Mayor Richard J. Daley
- Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil
- William McFetridge, president of Local 1 of the Building Service Employees Union
- Charles Swibel, president of Marina City Building Corporation
- Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg
- John T. Pirie, Jr., chairman of Carson Pirie Scott & Company
- Hughston M. McBain, former president of Marshall Field & Company
- Elmer E. Stevens, president of Charles A. Stevens & Company, a department store on State Street
- George R. Quin, president of Central Realty Company
- Maurice Goldblatt, who along with his brother, Nathan, founded a chain of discount stores in Chicago, including a flagship store at State and Van Buren Streets where DePaul University is now located. Another, younger brother, Joel, would one day live in the east tower at Marina City for two years.
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(Left to right) Unknown, Daley, John Waner (director of the FHA’s Chicago office), McFetridge, Sheil, Goldberg (hidden), Swibel (looking up). (Below left) Another angle.
(Below right) Real estate developer Swibel, union president McFetridge, Chicago Mayor Daley, and Goldberg, an architect, appear to operate construction equipment. (Click on image to view larger version.)
Photographs: Chicago Public Library, Special Collections and Preservation Division. The Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson & Burnham Archives.
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Once ground was broken, crews went to work on the foundation. Although not entirely completed, the working drawings for the towers were done enough for the foundations to be put in.
By February 1961 there was a conflict with a nearby construction project. Engineers determined that caissons could not be sunk at Marina City and the new Dearborn Street Bridge at the same time. Because of soil conditions, it could damage buildings and streets. A schedule had to be worked out between the two projects.
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Between November 1960 and March 1961, 80 caissons – more than originally planned – were buried 115 feet down in a limestone shelf that stretches to Niagara Falls. Drilling passed through layers of fill, gravel, and a variety of clays.
Each caisson consisted of a steel tube, called a casing, which was closed at the bottom with a plug. The casing is driven into the ground to a required depth and filled with concrete, forming a “pile” inside the casing.
The maximum diameter of piles varied from 24 to 66 inches. Every 24 hours, four casings containing reinforcing bars were drilled to bedrock, filled with concrete, and capped with a heavy steel plate.
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There are three concentric rings of piles. The central core is constructed over the inner ring, but most of the load is taken by the outer rings.
The central core is 32 feet in diameter. The thickness of the core walls decreases from 30 inches at the base to 12 inches at the top, 588 feet above the base.
On February 16, 1961, a construction fund account was opened with $20 million at Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company. Interest in Marina City from prospective renters was strong around this time, with 2,000 inquiries received for 896 apartments.
(Left) Aerial view of east tower foundation.
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