Tourist attraction
THE MART
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL 60654, USA
Art deco wholesale colossus raised over live rail tracks by thousands of Depression-era laborers.
This guide to THE MART in Chicago follows the men who raised a twenty-five-story wholesale house on steel decking laid over live railroad tracks, starting in 1928 as the Great Depression closed nearly every other job in the city. It traces architect Alfred Shaw's plan for Marshall Field and Company, replacing scattered warehouses with one colossus. Listen for how the air-rights construction turned into a race against the trains rattling below.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.