![]() Events included an annual track and field competitions, and company baseball teams. Included were a clubhouse and tennis courts, and the Sears Department of the YMCA. In the 1920s extensive athletic facilities were added to the complex, as an encouragement for after-work socialization to keep employee morale high. Designed by Nimmons and Fellows, a local architectural firm, the complex was so large the company required city permission to build over some city streets. The centerpiece of the company-owned "city within a city" were its central administration building, a merchandise development house, and a mail order processing facility, along with a power plant to provide electricity and heat to the entire complex. In 1904 the company purchased more than 40 acres (16 ha) of land on Chicago's West Side, and embarked on one of the largest retail development projects to date. The company's rapid growth created problems with the fulfillment of orders, because it had to lease space all over the city to warehouse its products. Experiencing rapid growth, the retailer in 1895 moved its headquarters to a building on West Adams Street in Chicago, and again the following year to Fulton and Desplaines Streets. Sears was founded in 1886, renamed Sears Roebuck in 1893 when Alvah Roebuck joined the firm, and was originally headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These core buildings occupy an area bounded on the north by West Arthington Street, the west by Central Park Avenue, the east by Spaulding Avenue, and the south by West Fillmore Street. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3,000,000-square-foot (280,000 m 2 69-acre 28 ha) mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. ![]() Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings survive and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses. The complex hosted most of department-store chain Sears' mail order operations between 19, and it also served as Sears' corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex is a building complex in the community area of North Lawndale in Chicago, Illinois. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.925 S. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. SNOW: I'll keep my tongue unto myself on that one.Ĭopyright © 2009 NPR. SCHAPER: As for the nickname Big Willy, Snow says. SCHAPER: Reginald Snow(ph) of Chicago feels the same. And it's strange that it would be called anything else. SUZANNE DICOSTANZA: Yes it does, because Sears is really a Chicago institution, I feel like. SCHAPER: Mike Hudgen of suburban Des Plaines says he just won't call it Willis, while the name change kind of bothers Suzanne Dicostanza(ph) of Chicago. MIKE HUDGEN(ph): It's a - you know, it's always going to be the Sears Tower, you know. But for Chicagoans outside of the Willis Tower, the new name is hard to swallow. SCHAPER: Bringing new jobs downtown, says the mayor. You know why, because they stepped up to the plate. Mayor RICHARD DALEY (Chicago, Illinois): Big Willy, Willis, yeah, Tower, yes. SCHAPER: For his part, Mayor Daley doesn't mind changing the name of the Sears Tower for a British company. ![]() And I said on TV yesterday, call it the Big Willy for all I care. JOSEPH PLUMERI (President and CEO, Willis Groups): You know, you can call it anything you want. So, New Jersey born and bred Joe Plumeri, Willis Group's president and CEO, says he knows it might be hard for Chicagoans to call the Sears Tower they grew up with, the Willis tower. Cellular Field," preferring simply The Cell. And many White Sox fans still refuse to call the former Comiskey Park "U.S. They picketed outside the historic Marshall Fields Department Store on State Street when it became Macy's. Chicagoans haven't been too kind to other corporate renamings. Willis Group Holdings, a London based insurance company, bought the naming right as part of its lease in the giant office tower. NPR's David Schaper reports on the renaming of the tallest building in North America.ĭAVID SCHAPER: Chicago Mayor Richard Daley joined Willis Group corporate officials in pulling a black covering off the giant Willis Towers sign in the lobby of this iconic 110-story skyscraper. And it's already acquired a nickname: the Big Willy. In Chicago, the tower formerly known as Sears is now known as Willis Tower, that officially begins today.
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