The Biography of Chicago’s Marina City
| October 8, 1871 – The Great Chicago Fire |
| September 14, 1959 – William McFetridge announces plans to build Marina City |
| November 3, 1959 – Bertrand Goldberg signs agreement to design Marina City |
| December 17, 1959 – William McFetridge pays $250,000 down payment on land where Marina City will be built |
| February 29, 1960 – Cost to build Marina City is now $36 million |
| April 15, 1960 – Bertrand Goldberg Associates produces a two-page typed manuscript, Marina City – The Central City Plan, that dares people to invest in Chicago’s center. |
| June 22, 1960 – George Dovenmuehle expresses interest in financing $17.8 million residential phase of Marina City |
| November 22, 1960 – Groundbreaking |
| September 15, 1961 – Homer Fields, Wallace Kumpula, and James Toner are killed in 43-story fall from scaffold |
| October 3, 1961 – Bertrand Goldberg Associates files a request for a permit to construct the 16-story office building |
| November 22, 1961 – Topping out ceremony |
| December 1, 1961 – 12-foot-high illuminated red sign promoting Christmas Seals is hoisted to 53rd floor of east tower |
| January 9, 1962 – Two model apartments open to the public at 316 West Randolph Street |
| February 20, 1962 – Dearborn Street Bridge sinks eight inches due to construction at Marina City |
| February 23, 1962 – Life magazine features a pictorial on nine new skyscrapers in Chicago, including Marina City |
| June 19, 1962 – Seven workers are injured when a material hoist falls ten stories |
| August 3, 1962 – Plans announced to start Marina City Bank with $2 million in capital |
| September 24, 1962 – William Jones slips on sand and falls 40 stories off the east tower |
| September 27, 1962 – National Design Center signs ten-year lease |
| October 14, 1962 – The first tenants move in to Marina City |
| November 22, 1962 – Dignitaries gather again at Marina City to bury into the foundation a celestial map |
| February 20, 1963 – Doorknobs and door controls worth $8,000 are stolen from a 56th floor storeroom |
| May 8, 1963 – Hilton Hotels signs $2 million lease to operate restaurant and catering facilities at Marina City |
| November 6, 1963 – Phillips Petroleum Company signs 20-year multi-million dollar lease to operate the marina |
| February 25, 1964 – Marina City Bank opens on main floor of the office building with $372,575 in deposits |
| May 5, 1964 – Building Service Employees International Union meets as a battle looms for control of Marina City |
| July 10, 1964 – Charles Swibel purchases from BSEIU full control of Marina City for $2,625,000 |
| September 25, 1964 – A benefit is held during which the public may tour Marina City from marina to observation decks |
| December 18, 1964 – A 20-year lease worth more than $1 million is signed with Spencer’s Marina City Bowl |
| May 7, 1965 – Goldstein, a film that includes scenes shot at Marina City, is released |
| September 27, 1965 – Mickey One, the second film shot at Marina City, is released |
| January 4, 1966 – WFLD goes on the air from Marina City |
| October 9, 1965 – A 35-foot cabin cruiser at the Marina City marina explodes |
| November 1, 1965 – The 12-foot-tall sculpture Polyphony II is dedicated on the Marina City plaza |
| November 15, 1965 – FBI agents arrest Richard Hauff, a Marina City resident with mob connections |
| November 23, 1965 – Murray “The Camel” Humphreys is indicted and dies at Marina City on the same day |
| December 1, 1965 – Ten-year-old William Blasio steals a boat from the marina and tries to sail it to Ohio |
| October 12, 1966 – The first skating season at Marina City begins |
| September 21, 1968 – Marina City rental office robbed by well-dressed men carrying a shotgun in a flowered shopping bag. |
| January 13, 1969 – Vernon Meyer, despondent over health issues, shoots his mother and then himself. |
| August 14, 1969 – Folk singer Bob Gibson arrested at Marina City and charged with drug possession. |
| September 5, 1969 – 1,500 men gather at Marina City to watch 14 women drop their bras into a basket for Braless Friday. |
| September 25, 1970 – Marina Cinemas opens. |
| April 28, 1972 – Marina City Bank is robbed of $33,000. |
| May 5, 1972 – Gloria Kirkpatrick, manager of the movie theaters at Marina City, is stabbed to death. |
| September 15, 1977 – Marina City apartments go on sale as condo units |
| September 21, 1979 – A car drives off the west tower parking ramp in a stunt for The Hunter |
| June 6, 1981 – CPD Deputy Superintendent James Riordan is shot and killed by a drunk bar patron at Marina City |
| July 30, 1986 – Nothing In Common, with scenes filmed at Marina City, is released. |
| May 27, 1987 – William Goodstein, first condo association president, resigns after indictment |
| November 18, 1988 – Marina City Associates, owner of commercial property at Marina City, files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy |
| November 22, 1988 – Marina City’s bankrupt commercial property is sold at auction to Matas Corporation |
| November 21, 1990 – Circuit Court Judge Richard Curry orders foreclosure on mortgage of Marina City’s commercial property |
| May 3, 1991 – Police raid a Marina City apartment and seize 285 guns, all of which are returned |
| September 27, 1992 – Writing in the Chicago Tribune, J. Linn Allen describes Marina City as “a seedy, crumbling wreck.” |
| October 8, 1992 – Parties meet in Cook County Circuit Court to discuss Marina City’s future |
| November 11, 1994 – The commercial property is sold for $3.35 million to developer John L. Marks, who announces plans for a $70 million facelift |
| September 14, 1995 – John Marks and Isaac Tigrett announce plans for a House of Blues concert hall, hotel, nightclub, and restaurant |
| November 12, 1996 – Nancy Goldberg dies at age 74 |
| October 8, 1997 – Bertrand Goldberg dies at age 84 |
| April 15, 1998 – Smith & Wollensky opens |
| February 26, 1998 – Loews Hotels selected to operate House of Blues hote |
| May 18, 2003 – A reception honors 19 original residents, people who were the first tenants of their respective apartments |
| January 18, 2006 – Dr. Gary Kimmel, Marina City resident and member of the condo board, is indicted on charges he laundered money for a nationwide prostitution ring. |
| February 22, 2006 – LaSalle Hotel Properties of Bethesda, Maryland, announces it has purchased House of Blues Hotel for $114.5 million. |
| October 15, 2006 – For a television spot for Allstate, a car once again is shot off the west tower parking ramp. |
| April 21, 2006 – Fire started by a candle damages a unit on the 21st floor of the west tower. |
| September 7, 2007 – Condo association at Marina City claims it “holds a common law copyright on the use of the association name and building image.” |
| October 30, 2008 – Dick’s Last Resort opens at Marina City. |
| June 10, 2008 – Marina City is one of 20 structures depicted using cans of food in the lobby of 350 West Mart Center. |
| August 12, 2008 – Alderman Brendan Reilly officially initiates the formal city landmark designation process “in order to protect Marina City’s architectural integrity for the future and to secure its well-deserved status as an official Chicago Landmark.” |
| November 14, 2008 – Vincent: A Life In Color, a documentary about Marina City resident Vincent Falk, premiers at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina. |
| November 19, 2009 – Marina Towers Condominium Association’s board of directors votes to terminate former Illinois legislator Ellis Levin as the association’s legal counsel. |
| May 24, 2010 – A Subway fast-food restaurant opens in space at the base of Marina City’s west tower that had not been used since 1988, when it was a Dollar Rent-A-Car location. |
| May 29, 2011 – The GEICO PBA Team Shootout brings some of the best bowlers in the world to Marina City for the first Professional Bowlers Association tour event held in Chicago since 1963. |
| April 18, 2012 – Guests at a “launch party” at Marina City’s marina are treated to rides on the Chicago River aboard two electric-powered boats owned by Chicago Electric Boat Company, a new venture by two Jefferson Beach Yacht Sales executives. |
| November 19, 2012 – Tortoise Club officially opens on the east side of Hotel Sax. |
| March 15, 2013 – Following a ten-week restoration project, the freshly-renovated west tower residential lobby is re-opened. The east tower lobby would open on May 1, 2013, after a six-week restoration. |
| March 24, 2014 – Last day of Marina Food & Liquor, a convenience store that served Marina City for 12 years. |
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