It happened on September 15, 1961. James Toner, age 24, Wallace Kumpula, 42, and 33-year-old Homer Fields, all carpenters, were inside the core of the east tower, going up on a scaffold with wooden forms for concrete. When the cable hoisting the scaffold slipped off its hook, they fell 43 stories.

A witness who was five feet above the men said he heard a loud noise and turned around. “The bodies bounced crazily,” said Mike Einsele, quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune the next day, “hitting one obstruction after another, until they hit the bottom.” When the scaffold fell, it hit a ladder on which a carpenter foreman was standing. Ed Schreck said, “I grabbed a beam right there and hung on. I thought I was a goner, for sure, but I wasn't going to let go.” An iron worker grabbed Schreck by his back and dragged him to safety.

The scaffold probably would have hit Will Bridges had he not stepped out of the way moments earlier to get a drink of water. According to Bridges, “Every one inside the core heard them fall.”

Workmen dug through the debris at the bottom of the core to recover the bodies.

James McHugh speculated the heavy wooden forms may have jammed against the inner wall of the core, putting tension on the hook and causing it to bend enough for the cable to slip off.

After work was called off for the rest of the day, one man who could not find his brother went to Henrotin Hospital (since closed) and mistakenly identified one of the victims as his brother. A few minutes later, the man’s brother was found safe back at the construction site.

The next day, investigators dug through the debris at the bottom of the east tower core.

The first lawsuit was filed on December 29 by Marilyn Fields, seeking damages of $400,000 in the death of her husband, Homer. They had three children. Defendants were Bertrand Goldberg, Marina City Building Corporation, James McHugh Construction Company, and Brighton Construction Company – which did general work on the project. The complaint claimed that scaffolding was unsafe and violated the Illinois Structural Work act, which dealt with workers injured in falls from scaffolding.

The second lawsuit was filed eight months later on August 30, 1962. Rosemary Toner sought $350,000 from the same defendants, on behalf of her and her daughter, Carrie Ann.

Then on September 13, the widow of Wallace Kumpula filed her lawsuit. Martha Kumpula sued for $450,000 on behalf of her and her sons, Glenn, age 15, and Gary, age 9.

Four years later, following a two-week trial before Judge Daniel J. McNamara, settlements totalling $425,000 ($2.7 million in 2007 dollars) were announced on October 5, 1966. The family of Homer Fields was awarded $193,800. Toner’s family got $129,200. Kumpula’s family received $102,000. The two attorneys for the families, John J. Sullivan and William J. Harte, argued there had been no safety lines in use as required by state law.

The 16-story fence

It wasn’t until October 3, 1961, that BGA actually filed a request for a permit to construct the 16-story office building on the north edge of the site. Although James McHugh Construction Company was expected to bid on the project – its equipment and crews were already on site – other contractors were invited to submit bids.

Goldberg often described the office building as a fence, separating Marina City from its surrounding area. Expected to cost $10-11 million, it would contain a 54-lane bowling alley, retail shops, swimming pool and health club. The sixth-floor roof of the building would be a plaza for use by office workers and building visitors, with a garden complete with trees and benches. Each of the top ten floors would have 18,000 square feet of office space.

Original tenants included Sperry-Univac (now known as Unisys) and Goldberg’s architectural firm. Bertrand Goldberg Associates moved into Marina City in 1963 from its previous location at 721 North Michigan Avenue. His 30-person staff occupied the entire sixth floor.

In 1966, the construction market development operation of General Electric established a central regional office, managed by Robert B. Day, at Marina City.

With 44 major construction projects in progress or completed between 1958 and 1961, downtown Chicago was in the middle of a building boom. Much credit for this was given to the Chicago central area committee, created by business leaders for the sole purpose of promoting the downtown area. They were reversing a ten-year trend of decline in Chicago's downtown similar to what was happening in other major American cities.

Soon, more than a billion dollars would be invested in such projects as Richard J. Daley Center, McCormick Place, and Marina City.

Marina City office building from northeast in late afternoon. State Street at left. East residential tower in background.

Tower on top of tower

On December 1, 1961, a 12-foot-high cross weighing more than 600 pounds was hoisted to the 53rd floor of the east tower – as high up as it went at the time. Illuminated in red and facing south, the double-bar cross promoted Christmas Seals for the Tuberculosis Institute of Chicago and Cook County. It is now the symbol of the American Lung Association.

Early in January of the next year, the idea of a beacon and “range lights,” a pair of lights used for navigation, was being discussed for Marina City. It was proposed by John Magill, a columnist for the Chicago Daily Tribune. Mayor Daley responded to this by saying it was a “good idea.”

Then in October 1962, Chicago’s first commercial television station, WBKB (now WLS-TV), announced it would erect a 426-foot tower (285-foot mast supporting a 140-foot-six-inch antenna) on the west residential tower. 969 feet above ground, the top of the tower would be the highest point in Chicago. It was a rental agreement worth $1 million to Marina City.

The tower, built in 1964, featured a column of red lights that flowed upward when temperatures were forecast to increase, and downward when they were expected to drop. Slowly blinking lights meant a storm was approaching. Steady illumination meant no change. Two rings of light at the base of the tower spelled victory (white) or defeat (blue) for a Chicago sports team. A third ring represented the WBKB “Circle 7“ logo. (Left) WLS tower in summer 1967, from roof of west residential tower. (Photo by Douglas Pierce.)

The beacon was designed, built and maintained by White Way Electric Sign & Maintenance Company of Waukegan, Illinois. It was controlled from WBKB studios at Marina City.

WBKB started broadcasting from Marina City in September 1964. In 1974, WLS moved its television transmitter from Marina City to Sears Tower. Mayor Richard J. Daley threw a ceremonial switch and the station went off the air momentarily, then came back with a poor signal said to be almost unwatchable.

According to Mike Wilson, an engineer for KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, who worked at WLS while attending college in Chicago at the time, there had been an error in the construction of the new transmitter or antenna. The station switched back to the Marina City antenna until the problem was corrected.