THE BIOGRAPHY OF CHICAGO’S MARINA CITY
Written by Steven Dahlman

National Geographic

On the cover of National Geographic

For its June 1967 issue, National Geographic put Marina City on the cover. Seen through a fisheye lens, the view of the Chicago River from east of the Dearborn Street bridge also appeared on a two-page spread. It was part of a 53-page article on Illinois.

(Below) World’s loftiest apartments. 588-foot towers of Marina City blaze with Christmas lighting. The darkened lower 20 floors house parking spaces, restaurants, a supermarket, and a basement marina on the Chicago River. Above these, pie-slice apartments soar another 40 stories. Camera’s Fisheye lens tilts the towers toward the gleaming shaft of the Wrigley Building, center, and the United of America Building, far right. Photograph by Bruce Dale.

National Geographic National Geographic

(Upper right corner) With the city for footlights, sky dancers twirl 52 stories high at Marina City. At this height, traffic tumult fades to silence and the view ranges into Indiana. Photograph by James L. Stanfield. Click on image to view larger version.

National Geographic Photo by Steven Dahlman

(Left) “Nation’s Freight Handler,” poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago, whose towers dwarf ships at Navy Pier. Today the exuberant mid-continent merchant, linked to the oceans by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, reaches out for the world’s freight. Photograph by James L. Stanfield.

(Right) Navy Pier in 2009. Freighters have been replaced with sightseeing vessels, such as the Anita Dee II at lower left. Marina City is now hidden behind newer buildings such as 330 North Wabash and Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Equitable Building is now 401 North Michigan Avenue. Between it and Marina City now stands the 96-floor Trump International Hotel & Plaza.

National Geographic Looping the Loop. A train wriggles from Wabash Avenue onto Lake Street along the “L,” the elevated railway. The Loop, 35 blocks encircled by the “L,” vibrates to the bustle of stores, offices, and hotels. Photograph by James L. Stanfield.

Bertrand Goldberg Archive Portland Cement Association