June 17, 1884 – The Chicago Daily Tribune
takes on the river shipping interests as it laments the amount of smoke that is
poured over the city by the 65 tugs that work the Chicago River from which “are
daily emitted dense volumes of black, dirty smoke.” [Chicago
Daily Tribune, July 17, 1884] Two years earlier the city council had passed
an ordinance imposing stiff penalties for emitting excessive amounts of smoke
within the city “but the tugs have kept on smoking and the buildings, with a
few exceptions, have kept on smoking, and the farce of the Smoke Inspector has
been continued.” In the fall of 1883 the
ordinance was tested in the courts with the Illinois Supreme Court upholding
the city’s right to fine violators of the law.
Smoke Inspector Merkl says, “They [the tug-men] have been making threats
against the Mayor and the City Council.
They claim the enforcement of the smoke ordinance is a drive against the
soft-coal interests of Illinois. This is
nonsense. It is a matter of fact that
there is not a tugboat on the Chicago River that uses Illinois coal … Illinois
coal is too dirty for even the tugs.”
June 17, 1932 – The Chicago Daily Tribune announces that the world’s tallest building will be constructed on Illinois Central Railroad air rights south of the Chicago River and 200 feet east of Michigan Avenue. A 100-year lease is finalized and the architect, Walter W. Ahlschlager, has been chosen with a plan, already in place, for the great Art Deco tower of 75 stories. The building is to have 1,000 hotel rooms, but its primary purpose will be to consolidate all phases of the apparel industries in one location. Amenities will include parking on the lower levels for Pullman cars, a 1,200-car garage, two auditoriums and an open-air swimming pool on the roof. Even at this early date at least four-dozen firms have committed to occupying space in the building that will cover two city blocks. W. R. Dawes, the president of the Chicago Association of Commerce, in a letter to the president of the Apparel Manufacturers’ Mart Building Corporation, writes, “The Chicago Association of Commerce heartily endorses the project. We feel that the centralization of the apparel industry in the city of Chicago, and the erection of the magnificent building which you propose to construct on the premises will be of benefit to the entire apparel industry and to the city of Chicago. The completion of this project will be an achievement worthy of one of the greatest industries and of one of the greatest cities in the country.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, June 17, 1932] Ten months later the project dies mysteriously. Four decades will pass before this space on Wacker Drive begins to transform itself from a railroad freight yard to a developed piece of real estate. For more on the plan and another one that also failed to rise, head here. The Hyatt Regency Chicago stands on the river in this location today.
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