Tribune Tower

This guide to Tribune Tower begins with an unmarked stone from the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, sent anonymously to Chicago in 1949 by an Orthodox archbishop who begged never to be named. It traces the habit back to 1914, when Tribune publisher Robert McCormick pocketed a piece of the shelled cathedral at Ypres and later ordered correspondents around the world to gather fragments from famous ruins by what they called honorable means. You'll hear about some of the nearly one hundred fifty pieces set into the tower's base, from the Great Wall to a World War One trench. Look for the small brass plates naming where each fragment came from.