Groundbreaking

Groundbreaking was on Tuesday, November 22, 1960. Just 14 days earlier, John F. Kennedy, with the help of Mayor Richard J. Daley, had been elected president.

Sammy Davis Jr. had married Swedish actress May Britt nine days earlier. The Polaris missile had been test-launched seven days earlier. In two days, in one NBA game, Wilt Chamberlain would make 55 rebounds.

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.

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. Exactly three years later, to the day, Kennedy would be assassinated.

Mayor Daley was there. So was Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil (1888-1969). Swibel also recalls General Electric representatives and construction workers.

“I remember they had this big drill and someone pulled a lever and the thing started turning the ground.”

Following groundbreaking, 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.

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 potential renters was strong around this time, with 2,000 inquiries received for 890 apartments.

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. Each steel tube was plugged at the bottom and filled with concrete.