The teller windows were at least a year away from being ready, but in August 1962, a group of bankers announced plans for Marina City Bank. Jacob M. Arvey, chairman of the bank, William Fuller Gregson, president, Patrick H. Hoy, vice president, along with Theodore K. Lawless, R. S. Holsom, and Thomas F. Flannery, would start the bank with $2 million in capital.

Arvey (1895-1977) was senior partner in the Chicago law firm of Arvey, Hodes & Mantynband (now known as Arvey, Hodes, Costello & Burman). He was Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee from 1946 to 1950, and Democratic National Committeeman from Illinois from 1950 to 1972. 175 pages of correspondence between him and President Truman are kept at the The Harry S Truman Library and Museum.

Hoy was president of the Material Services division of General Dynamics Corporation. He would be indicted in 1970 on charges of concealing liabilities from banks that were loaning him $2 million between 1962 and 1966 for an insurance venture that failed.

Some familiar names were added to the board of directors in June 1963. Elected at a special shareholders meeting were William McFetridge and Charles Swibel.

Among the bank’s 13 directors were John H. Johnson, publisher and editor of Ebony magazine, Raymond Shoessling, president of Teamsters Joint Council Number 25, and Thomas F. Flannery Jr., president of Whitney Electric Sign and Maintenance Company.

Marina City Bank opened on February 25, 1964 on the main floor of the office building. There were electric adding machines out for customers to use. A sweeping circular wrought iron staircase, with a round, brushed stainless steel elevator in the middle, led to the vault in the basement.

Drive-in and walk-up windows were available outside the bank. You could see the teller on closed-circuit television. There was such a “Teleview Teller” in the lobby of the apartment towers for use by Marina City residents.

The Teleview Teller was located near Item 14 in the above map, near the tunnel to the office building.

The bank had been accepting deposits since December 1963 and by opening day they totalled $372,575. By March 1964, Marina City Bank had $12 million in deposits and was, according to American Banker magazine, one of the 2800 largest banks in the U.S.

On Friday, September 10, 1964, James Douglas Bell, age 30, walked up to a teller at Marina City Bank and demanded money. Bell did not appear to have a weapon on him and the teller refused. The would-be robber fled but was soon caught by the bank's chief guard, Maurice Walsh. Bell was arraigned on federal charges later that same day.

First fires

Still another infamous first was the first reported fire at Marina City. On the evening of August 30, 1962, smoke was seen coming from near the top of the west tower. However, by the time Engine 13 arrived from two blocks away, the smoke was gone. A construction company spokesperson says wooden crates had been burning on the 45th floor.

There were no injuries and damage was minor, but crowds were treated to bigger smoke on September 18. Scrap lumber from concrete forms caught fire on the 61st floor of the east tower. It was extinguished with water that was pumped up through the building.

The first fire in an occupied apartment happened on February 5, 1963. It was a small fire in the east tower apartment of J. A. Thompson that was put out by fire fighters who carried hand pumps by elevator to the 31st floor.

No one was injured, and damage was estimated at only $500, but on February 14, 1963, 50 residents of the west tower were evacuated as fire fighters extinguished several butane gas tank fires. The tanks supplied heating units that were drying new concrete. Damage was to the elevator lobby and stairway on the plaza level.

On October 29, 1963, welders cutting an opening for an elevator accidentally started a small fire in the east tower. A resident on the 43rd floor smelled smoke coming from the trash chute and called the fire department. But by the time they arrived, the fire had been extinguished.

Another worker falls

The fourth construction worker to die while building Marina City was William Jones, age 44. He was a plasterer for McGurn Brothers and had been working at Marina City for about five months. He was married and had two children.

On September 24, 1962, Jones may have suffered a dizzy spell before falling off a construction platform on the 40th floor of the east tower, landing on the State Street bridge.

McGurn Brothers, meanwhile, would soon be in a dispute with the general contractor, James McHugh Construction Company, over their attempt to cancel a plastering and lathing contract. The plastering company sued McHugh for $1 million and on January 16, 1963, filed a $299,348 lien against them.

Plastering and lathing is done to interior walls of a building. Although drywall had been around since 1952, city code prevented its use in high-rise construction because the wood studs it connected to were not adequately fireproof. Eventually, metal studs would be invented but until about 1965 all high-rise construction in Chicago used plaster walls.