Forgotten Rail Yard Under Chicago's Largest Historic Building - Merchandise Mart

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Did you know that Chicago has a massive building with its own zip code? That’s right, and in 1930, the Merchandise mart opened its doors to the world as the largest building in the world. The 4 million square foot area served such a large influx of visitors daily that it required its own L stop and connection to Chicago’s now abandoned 60 miles of underground freight tunnel.
Perhaps what mystifies me most is that Merchandise Mart was built above a massive train yard and that, for many decades, sub-terrain freight train delivery was possible in the heart of Chicago. This near-century-old art deco masterpiece still stands on the bank of the Chicago river and serves around 20,000 people daily in modern times.
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03:11 - Why Merchandise Mart’s land has always been important to Chicago trade
06:13 - Construction of Merchandise Mart
07:03 - How big is Merchandise Mart?
07:50 - Merchandise Mart’s Grand opening
08:53 - Why Merchandise Mart is a “city within a city.”
10:06 - Tour of Merchandise Mart
14:05 - The History of Radio Broadcast at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart
16:37 - The Merchandise Mart Train station
18:29 - What happened to Merchandise Mart’s Rail Freight Yard
19:58 - What’s in the Merchandise Mart’s basement?
23:59 - Merchandise Mart’s connection to the Chicago Freight Tunnels
25:00 - The Chicago Flood was first noticed at Merchandise Mart
28:25 - How Merchandise Mart transformed the Chicago Loop
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Sponsor - Magellan TV
Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash
Editor -Iryna Dukla
Host - Ryan Socash
Thumbnail Creative Commons flic.kr/p/9QQnHy H. Michael Miley
» SOURCES
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» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@ITSHISTORY]

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[@REAL-UNKNOWN-SHINOBI]

No

[@greekre]

i'm sure all those underground tunnels come in handy for trafficking purposes

[@clocksurfer]

I worked at the Merchandise Mart in the 1980's. When I started there, it quickly became apparent to me that this building and its history included more than could be knowable by any one person, unless that person were to commit a career to studying it. During my time there (as a teenager), I cleaned, I managed materials, and I even extinguished three incipient trash fires. (People were still allowed to smoke in the building back then.)

[@ROCK-vl5yw]

You could smoke in hospital airplanes in the 60 s

[@denniswhite166]

@@ROCK-vl5yw Smoking up till the mid to late 70's.

[@ROCK-vl5yw]

@@denniswhite166 what

[@denniswhite166]

@@ROCK-vl5yw You could smoke in hospitals and airplanes up until 1990. Not the 1960's. I incorrectly said late 70's.

[@UNCFIPP]

Yeah... My first job, Wendys, in 1996, had a smoking section for guests.. Employees could either smoke in the office,or in the dumpster area.. We NEVER went outside..

[@Zephyrdaze1819]

That line under the Mart was still in service until the 80’s as newspaper supplies fir the Chicago Sun-Times was delivered to their press a few blocks east. The line also continued past that all the way to Navy Pier. In addition, the few tracks that veered southward from the bridge toward Wolf Point were the remains of station tracks from C&NW’s original depot that preceded the huge Madison St. terminal.

[@dasoffendor]

the line was in use up to the sun-times building until the late 90s, it wasnt until the sun-times built their new press plant out by ashland avenue, and they removed the press in the sun-times building, that they stopped delivering paper by train. I worked at the sun-times until a couple weeks before they moved out of the building in 2004.

[@mrlaw711]

My father was a manager at the Baskin's clothing store. In the 50's, as a kid, he would often take me downtown on the train from Arlington Heights, treat me to lunch at nice place, and then take me over the Merchandise Mart where he'd get me "rather unique" clothes. Thus, I was a well dressed young man. He, and others, would be disappointed that "junk food and beverage" stores like McDonald's, Starbucks, et al, have replaced fine restaurants.

[@carolynhotchkiss4760]

My mother's first job after college was at the Merchandise Mart, working in the Toni Home Permanent offices. She got lost on her first day of work! She said that place was so BIG (she was from a small town in Ohio). She basically learned the 'path' to and from the train station for the north side, and that was all of the Mart she really ever saw. She was afraid to go exploring by herself again after that first day.

[@whiterose7055]

Hey ! I worked in the mail room at Gillete / Toni back in the 1960's.

[@uhlijohn]

I was an locomotive engineer for the CNW (now retired) and I would occasionally work an industry job out of State St. yard or North Ave. yard and we would spot cars at the Chicago Tribune's old printing plant on Michigan Ave. or other customers and in order to do that we had to go underneath the Merchandise Mart on a single track that was often blocked by parked cars that people had carelessly parked too close to the tracks and we had to call a tow truck to remove them so we could do our work. I knew nothing of the history of a whole mini rail yard underneath the Mart! The only thing left was that single track that we used.

[@j887276]

Not many people have pooped under that building 😁

[@DOLRED]

If you remember the American Freedom Train visit of July 1975, they used those tracks to run the train to Navy Pier where the coaches were put on display. My dad, who worked at Marina City, told me the steam engine derailed at Marina City, likely because the tracks were in poor shape by then for heavy steam engines. I drove on North Water street a few times and seem to recall tracks in the roadway. North Water St is tricky to find but pleasant to use as not to many people knew of it. I think the city has cut it up for ever popular building construction. This explains why the rail routes in that area have disappeared as well.

[@tmcb_]

The tunnel system wasn't "forgotten" except by ordinary citizens...nor was it "abandoned" as it was being used for phone, data, and power lines.

[@Stache987]

And old shopping malls if standing and underground caves are popular for data centers.

[@acdii]

And got shot up by Carrie Fisher in the Blues Brothers.

[@blackhawks81H]

People remember the tunnels every so often when a portion of them floods and dumps a bunch of water into basements all over downtown. Like when they accidentally break through into them while dredging the river/working on a bridge and install an unplanned Chicago river drain. 😂

[@Sammie1053]

Chicago *has* several buildings that still have their own ZIP codes. The Sears Tower (and, if I remember correctly, the John Hancock Building) both have their own postal codes

[@Estenberg]

A "Bathroom" is a "LAVATORY," not a "Laboratory." The word comes from the Latin term "Lavatorium," referring to the washing facility in a medieval monastery. The word "Lavatory" is still used in Great Britain, whereas in America we use the term "WASHROOM" instead. The word "TOILET" is a French term for a room in which to wash oneself and perform other private body functions (such as brush teeth, pin a wig on, apply makeup, etc.). However, in today's English Language a "Toilet" refers to a bowl in which to relieve oneself. The ultimately private "Toilet-bowl" is often placed in or near a "Lavatory" for convenience. But, the word "Toilet," up until recently, was rarely mentioned in polite society for obvious reasons.

[@loboheeler]

Yes, there is an aversion in the USA to say "Toilet" in public conversation. Many Brits are not so shy, and refer to it as the "Loo". Europeans are more open to discussing this subject. The Germans only care that you pay the attendant at public facilities.

[@kennethobrien6537]

In America I hardly hear washroom. Usually just" bathroom" and sometimes "the head" I'm on the northest 95 corridor for vernacular reference.

[@samd1405]

@@kennethobrien6537 In my experience "washroom" is a midwestern term. Restroom is the term to use that everyone understands. Bathroom doesn't make much sense since the majority of public ones lack baths.

[@Skarry]

@@kennethobrien6537 the head is military slang I believe. At least that's where I picked it up. Well... Military school.

[@HighHolyOne]

In my Chicago Catholic school upbringing in the 1950s, our Franciscan nuns came from Wisconsin. Our restroom was the lavatory, where we hung our coats was the cloakroom, and we got a drink of water from the bubblers. BTW, My dad took me to the observation deck at the tallest building in Chicago, which at that time was the Board of Trade with the statue of the Goddess Ceres on top.

[@LitheApo]

Chicago has a really cool history of architecture.

[@mrozborne1973]

Laboratory is for scientific research. Lavatory is where you find toilets and sinks.

[@ROCK-vl5yw]

Thankyou

[@Stache987]

In a airplane ✈️

[@sernajrlouis]

But you can do scientific experiments in a rest room. Lol.

[@UNCFIPP]

The lavatory is a laboratory, sometimes... Ive made a few science projects on the toilet before

[@sernajrlouis]

@@UNCFIPP that's what I'm saying!!! Lol. Great minds think alike!! Thank you fellow scientist. Lol

[@gobbletegook]

What a great piece! So few people know what this building once was! Back in the 1970's and early 1980's, you were able to visit the Mart without being a member. I believe that is was open one day a year to the public, and you could even purchase things from some of the vendors (but you usually had to buy a case or more, no single item purchases). And it was beautiful! The showrooms were exquisite...like the biggest high rise shopping mall you have ever seen...but on steroids. The forethought of the builders truly was an accomplishment. I don't know much about it anymore... but I think that you can still buy a pass for tours of the facility if you are not in the trade.

[@AldoOviedoGaming]

I went to school right next to this at the art institute of Illinois in Chicago while the school was still around. Such a cool building it was also pretty mysterious at times

[@xXSprMgaAwsmFxyHtXx]

The art institute still is a school??

[@mspetersen]

The bridge has to be lowered occasionally to keep its legal authority to exist. The Chicago & North Western considered running commuter service using Budd RDC’s out to Navy Pier at one point in the 1960s. I remember going to visit Navy Pier in the late 1960s and seeing freight cars parked there for loading/unloading when the pier was still used for ships.

[@jonahturner6389]

The bridge is technically not permanently lifted as it’s lowered once a year for a track inspector to roll across

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

The coast guard or the army corps of engineers requires all the movable bridges to be kept movable, also Union Pacific is keeping legal rights to the right of way which they use the bridge as proof of.

[@eddieristau4214]

Union Pacific doesn't want to lose any right away in the city, especially this. Lot of regrets from some railroads giving up their property

[@huntsbychainsaw5986]

A glimpse back to a time when dignity had value and its presence was sought after.

[@bretthousman8317]

I'm wonder if Kennedy had dignity with lying about donating the place to the public but then didn't lol

[@IllinoisGamer]

Wow I’m 23 year old and i honestly don’t think I’ve heard about this building until today. I love history, why isn’t this talked about nowadays as much as it was in the video?

[@chimayk]

It is, you just need to look harder. Your average Chicagoan knows very little history, so only within certain pockets will you find people with a decent grasp of it.

[@anto2061]

@@chimayk Your"

[@Stache987]

@mayk this goes along with any other major cities residents, it depends on how much free time outside of work one has.. when I was a teenager I would ride into downtown with my mother, and was turned loose while she was at work, there was a wonderful arcade with 1940ish era pinball machines and other methods of taking ones money.. last I knew it closed, near where I had an apartment once, a store that sold pinball machines only by appointment sat, however, it probably became too expensive to store the inventory as each month's rent was factored into the sales price. Anyone want to buy a mid 50s Gottlieb Jockey Club? I've owned since the early 70s? It's 95% operational.. but outside Kansas City

[@indianastan]

Whoa 😮 you never heard of Merchandise Mart? Boi at 23 you are just a puppy 🤓

[@IllinoisGamer]

@@chimayk why isn’t it talked about that much like it was in the video is what i meant… 10/10 I’ve been right next to it plenty of times but it’s obviously not talked about and spoke so high of as much as it once was according to the video.

[@NateJ1]

Work right across the river from Merch Mart and go in there all the time. It’s wild. Basically if a silicone valley hq was made of stone

[@janoswimpffen7305]

The North Shore Line was abandoned on January 20, 1963 (I last rode it the day before). The photo that you have of the red cars in the distance was taken in Philadelphia, where the flagship cars of the North Shore were sold.

[@AddieDirectsTV]

Q101 *was* based in the Mart. Originally up in the historic studios but by the time I toured their studios they were just above the El station as I recall. I’m not sure where they are now but I believe they moved after the station was sold to the owners of WLS. But yes back in the day, that is where Mancow would have broadcast from. Btw those historic studios were also the original studios of WMAQ-TV until they moved in the late-80’s to the NBC Tower. (WMAQ AM did move at that time too, but WKQX did not.)

[@fattyhaggs356]

17th floor

[@PapaVanTwee5]

Q101 is also in the NBC tower now.

[@acdii]

That's so 20 years ago. Mancow? He is pretty much off the air now.

[@falken111]

@@acdii What the devil is a Man-cow? Bring back Murphy In the Morning! (shakes cane)

[@glennso47]

I recall Floyd Brown when he was on WMAQ radio.

[@zz449944]

13:55 I believe the RCA radio "Laboratories" were like workshops -- filled with work benches for all kinds of electrical and radio engineering and manufacturing.

[@KingSpaceySprockets]

I used to work in there for three years and every time I came to work I was marveled by the structure of it. It’s definitely a beautiful place ❤

[@douglasmclean2802]

The Mart is an amazing - and maze like - building. I've visited a few times for both work and leisure.

[@SimonFoxVids]

The NBC radio/TV studios are long gone… mostly. While that space has been converted to office space for other tenants, the shell of Studio A is still marked on floor plans as a large, two story tall meeting room, at least as of a few years ago. It wouldn’t have been used for Q101, as it was converted for TV use in the early days of the medium.

[@drewhunkins7192]

This building has always been one of my favorites. Absolutely massive.

[@skittlescat294]

I almost squealed when you mentioned Q101. They used to be in the Mart, but they relocated a few years ago.

[@mizu_the_floatzel]

So some of the stuff you're talking about is actually interesting. My father was a student in a college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was studying broadcasting or you know radio and they talked about the building and the radio stations that operated out of it. He even told me stories about it when I was a kid. I really wanted to see the building growing up. Just never got a chance to go to Chicago. Maybe one day I will maybe

[@Bourbonbing]

It was once owned by Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana and Joe Kennedy.

[@JohnnyBean78]

I remember watching this on the news, I was 12 years old at the time living outside Chicago. The news anchors joked about Loop spelled backwards was pool, in terms on how severe the flooding had been. The Merchandise Mart is one of my favorite buildings downtown and remember the stories my grandparents told of the place. Never been. Learned a lot from this video, good work.

[@glennso47]

I was At bootcamp at Great Lakes in 1966. And one weekend I was given liberty to go to Chicago and I wanted to see Merchandise Mart. A security guard kicked me out of the place.

[@trainliker100]

In 1992 the tunnels did NOT just "gave in" as the narrator said. A piling was being pounded into the Chicago River as part of the Kinzie bridge rehabilitation and the city had approved the pilings to be in a different position than the old ones. But it was too close to the tunnel unbeknownst to them. The pressure created by the piling ended up breaching the tunnel wall. The damage was caused, it didn't just happen.

[@MoonMan1333]

That’s exactly what the narrator said.

[@nicksnarski5973]

I was living in the suburbs of Chicago in 1991 and remember the under ground flood happening.Thumbs up.

[@charlesclager6808]

A friend of mine who was a sales rep had the entire Merchandise Mart as the bulk of his territory. Incredible.

[@mrlaw711]

Yes, indeed. A salesman with an IBM Selectric typewriter route had the MM as his sales route. Took him either a week or a month to cover the building, and then he'd repeat the process. I would ride in on the train with him when I was first working in the loop in the late 60's. I moved to the SF Bay Area in 1970.

[@Hariri99999]

This video reminds me of those forgotten lower levels of NYC MTA stations! It would be so great to give ‘‘em a chance for a video 🎉MTA abandoned stations are so damn mystic and intriguing

[@0fficialdregs]

I been waiting to watch this video for the longest time. i have my 4 hotdogs and four burgers. There used to be a CNW railroad videos from the 1950s showing how the CNW would pull trains of potato to the yard outside of the mart and also going through the mart as well

[@tomryan4968]

Very interesting, thanks. Just to be picky, the department store owner’s last name was Field, not Fields. The name also adorns the Field Museum of natural history, is the F in WFLD TV/Fox 32, and the family owned the Chicago Sun Times, selling it to Rupert Murdoch in the 1980s.

[@travisuysaloglu9695]

I did the carpet on the 5th and 8th floors 9years ago. It was the job that convinced me to look for a different career lol. Basically crawled on my hands and knees the entire inside distance of the building on those floors.

[@johnvrabec9747]

I used to deliver bottled water there to many offices and showrooms. I walked miles on those days, plus going up and down the freight elevators to the trucking dock underneath. Pretty cool. Another Chicago icon.

[@aaronmills4238]

You should do a video about the great Chicago fire

[@chiron14pl]

I enjoyed working at the Mart for several years. it's a great building

[@billermanthegreat]

Man, I have stopped at "Merchandise Mart" a few times and always wondered what it was all about. This is great!

[@robhicks2117]

In 1928 The Chicago Merchandise Mart cost $28 million dollars to construct. That is equal to around $453 million dollars today.

[@thebusterdog6358]

That building would cost billions of dollars today to build.

[@allenbuck5589]

Way up way up in cost. Billions

[@thebusterdog6358]

Hell it costs a billion + to build a football stadium today.

[@strobx1]

First of. Good video. But the "Wells Street Station" Harrison & Wells was the B&O Grand Central Station home of the Pere Marquette/ Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio and the Soo Liner. It closed in 1970. The "Cement" you show is actually a "coke push" pushing the Charcoal equivalent of coal out of the coke oven into a quenching car to be sprayed with water. Coke is the fuel in blast furnaces. Grand Central Station was torn down for a development that never happened and the site is vacant to this day. You show the trainshed of Grand Central Station. The foot print of the station and it's three concourses are still there. My dad worked for the C&O and we frequently went to Chicago to Grand Central Station, so I "grew up" there.

[@bazza945]

Thank you, Ryan, another great historical "exploration".

[@kosjeyr]

You should do a video of the buildings in Uptown like the Aragon and Riviera with the tunnels that Al Capone used under Lawrence.

[@7viewerlogic670]

Mancow is not currently broadcasting. His last gig was with WLS in Chicago.

[@klausj1544]

God, I love the architecture of Chicago.

[@joelongjr.5114]

The bascule bridge over the North Chicago River is still in service and has not been abandoned. It is lowered once a year and a hi-rail truck is run on the bridge railroad track to keep it in service. The Chicago & NorthWestern Railway started this practice and it has been continued with the Union Pacific Railroad that purchased the C&NW in 1995. Please update and check your sources.

[@SHO1989]

As always, It's History brings excellent historical topics to watch. Fastly becoming one of my favorite KZbin channels. Thanks Ryan.

[@johnabbottphotography]

As a Chicagoan who once worked in Merch Mart, this is phenomenal. Great job, sir.

[@johnsolo1701d]

Q101 wasn't on the top floor, they were on the second floor (with the food court, where the brown line stopped). You could walk by and look into a little window at the DJs. I'm sure they loved it.

[@apc_46and28]

WKQX definitely started at a higher floor before being right above the trains.

[@fattyhaggs356]

their main offices were on the 17th floor of the merchandise mart they later moved down to the second floor like late 90s

[@fattyhaggs356]

@@apc_46and28 17th floor Suite 1701 to be exact

[@h_garcia]

Sad that modern malls aren’t developed like this anymore

[@martyjames8592]

Research the mudflood

[@tarn1135]

60’s and 70’s mall did a lot of this but generally on one floor. Now companies just build that way they don’t have to be limited by others building limitations. I think this is cool and we’ve lost a sense of beauty in building’s architecture but we’ll never see this again, given how everything is available online now or in box stores.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

malls were invented to provide everything you need in one location because people would buy more if they didn't have to drive around between stores. With the internet that concept has moved online and malls in the traditional form no longer make sense. That's why most modern malls and shopping centres have a ton of clothing stores - because people still want to try on clothes before buying them - and very few other types of stores are able to survive unless they're in one of the few malls that's still able to draw in a lot of people

[@alfoncesmithe]

Wow again, Brilliant another gem of a building documentary just love these amazing architecture buildings, my big passion started way back when I discovered The Flat Iron Building In Manhattan New York I have just kept on Reaching, this Building is stunning & amazing the details & all your research is stunning thanks so much👍🙂🖐

[@211212112]

It seems like if the train tracks still worked Amazon could turn the building into a huge warehouse central located in the country. Build a cargo airport a bit outside the city with tracks to it and the UPS and FedEx world hubs in memphis and Louisville made to look quaint.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

Nobody wants to deal with fire brigade loading and unloading boxcars like that anymore. They used to line up multiple boxcars on many parallel tracks and run heavy bridge plates between the open doors of adjacent boxcars. Very labor intensive and entire tracks would have to be cleared just to get one car out. It is much easier to move truck trailers around and back them up next to a building. The railroads have rid themselves of a lot of switching and trackage thanks to subsidized highways. They effectively outsourced the labor to local trucking and collect all the loads at one main rail yard. This increases truck traffic on roads around cities, increasing sprawl by allowing industries to be further from rails and a lot of truck storage and staging has been pushed on to roads as well.

[@fukyoutube444]

Shhs if he hears you. He may do it. Don't give him a challenge

[@whiterose7055]

I worked in the Merchandise Mart back in the 1960's. It is architectural wonder !

[@j887276]

So you have pooped in the building?

[@johnogrady2418]

My Dad was an Elevator Operator at the Merchandise Mart. I wish they'd been mentioned. They used castanets to communicate with each other. When an elevator arrived back on the 1st floor they'd clack their castanets and then the next elevator in line would ascend.

[@aph757]

Wow, that's wild!

[@salty6pence672]

Haven't listened to Mancow in years but he used to on the second floor.

[@terranceeichelberger6996]

Imagine watching this inside of The Mart. I'm here now at work. I've been working here 3 years and I still get amazed by this building.

[@TheChicag0an]

Wow I watched this on my lunch here at merch too! Incredible building. I love working here.

[@j887276]

@@TheChicag0an I'm assuming you've pooped in there?

[@dasoffendor]

a big part of why this was eventually abandoned was the route was actually quite inconvenient. The tracks were a level lower than all the surrounding roads and railroads, meaning the two-track bridge had to be raised and lowered considerably more often than other bridges. Goose Island, north of this bridge, was still a significant industrial area at the time and there was a lot of river traffic. Secondly, there used to be a line going north out of Union Station along Canal Street which intersected the line right on the west side of the river, shown in your video at 18:39. (On a side note, this line to the north was the same line that used to pass in front of Wrigley Field at street level until the 1970s) This created a regular logistical headache for the railroad and was a big reason they built the new terminal on the west side of the river, requiring no river or railroad crossings at all.

[@brolydictcumberbatchmontou401]

Wow that building is still the Big Chungus of all buildings I've ever seen before, it's like an Art Deco Deathstar of Commerce!! I've never ever know of that massive of a building! 75 miles of hallways.... Mind blown! It's beautiful but that thing terrifies me to dare go into it as I feel one can get lost in their for a few years lol!! I'm from Canada lol.

[@DJJonPattrsn22]

WOW! What an amazing & fantastic presentation! Great job! Thank you so much!

[@magellantv]

This was so fascinating! Thank you again for such wonderful content 🙌

[@kennethjosephson134]

Great video. The North Shore Line lasted into January, 1963.

[@gobbletegook]

I remember once, as a kid, taking the North Shore line with my mother and aunt from Milwaukee all the way to Marshall Fields at Christmas! It stopped on the corner, you just had to walk down the steps and into the corner of the building!

[@bret9741]

What a shame we have abandoned our passengers rail in these cities.

[@JeffDeWitt]

Fascinating. This is one of those buildings that I'd heard of since forever, but knew nothing about. Building that was an amazing accomplishment, and you did a very nice job on the video.

[@Jasona1976]

Great and informative video. The Mart is a truly impressive building!

[@trainliker100]

The "deep tunnel" he mentions is part of the Chicago "Deep Tunnel" project (actually, TARP or "Tunnel and Reservoir Plan") started in 1975. It was a massive 4 billion dollar project that isn't all that well known. Basically, it is designed to capture the water from a large storm so the water can be dealt with over time after the storm to prevent flooding and overwhelming waste treatment facilities. Prior to that, people were rather accustomed to sewers backing up in a big storm.

[@Brad772006]

I had heard a rumor that many years ago one entire floor of this building was used for a team doing Ferris Bueller's homework.

[@elultimo102]

I recall the pre-Today Show morning news, showing a "whirlpool" in the river. At that time, nobody knew what it was nor where the water was going.

[@riftalope]

Laboratory, As in workshop. For the uses of radio broadcasting that would be a practice room or rehearsal theater. Some complete with audience seating.

[@rustychestnut4804]

This is also the site where the infamous Max Headroom transmission was originated. One of the funniest things ever in broadcast history.

[@johnray5466]

Dexter's lavatory

[@rays7437]

😆😆😆

[@VictorianMaid99]

America has created some amazing buildings and rail roads

[@jerroldkazynski5480]

The Milwaukee Road tracks were across the river, so the Mart was visible every trip. I lived out near the Proviso Yard.

[@Ka9radio_Mobile9]

7:23 The Gearing class was a series of 98 destroyers built for the U.S. Navy during and shortly after World War II. The Gearing design was a minor modification of the Allen M. Sumner class, whereby the hull was lengthened by 14 ft (4.3 m) at amidships, which resulted in more fuel storage space and increased the operating range.

[@siangibby5771]

I have always LOVED the Merchandise Mart!

[@MrJommins]

Wow! I really enjoyed this!

[@apc_46and28]

How come you couldn’t show the statues on YT? I checked your IG archives and saw the mart but not the statues.

[@eddieristau4214]

Back in 1991 in I was a freshman and went on a field trip to the merchandise mart. HUGE !!!! Also the Chicago & Milwaukee Northshore Electric railroad that also used the CTA elevated tracks went out of business in January of 1963.

[@7viewerlogic670]

Great video!

[@h.mandelene3279]

The UP(former CNW) bridge is not permanently up- it is lowered occasionally(once or twice a year, I forget) for inspections. That one bridge was the bottleneck to the rail traffic north of the river. They kept saying they would build another bridge to increase traffic but obviously it never happened.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

C&NW built a new terminal station to avoid the bridge.

[@rosemeccia9411]

Still go there for work. I love this building. Trade shows multiple times a year. Thank you for this history. I've been going there since the 80ies I have never seen the Indian's. I had a showroom for a few years. Where are they now

[@fukyoutube444]

Wb now. You find any those Indians.

[@troman5000]

You do Chicago so very well! Thanks! Native Chicagoan.

[@elfenmagix8173]

"A building so large it had its own Zipcode"? The Original Twin Towers and surrounding WTC Complex had 11 Zipcodes, with the towers themselves each having 4 each.

[@katherinekinnaird4408]

Always a pleasure thank you so much

[@genevarailfan3909]

19:52 I think the tracks beyond the bridge may still exist, but they've been cut or paved over at road crossings.

[@michealklee8844]

And we built it we are the Chicago building trades And we’re still building Chicago over 143 years Mid-America Carpenters ✊🏽🇺🇸

[@cherylschantz9893]

The Indian head statues were beautiful. So strong and powerful.

[@fattyhaggs356]

I was Office of the building/ mail room mid-90s through end of the 90s. I love the area the people the owners the restaurants and bars.

[@StevenTorrey]

Fascinating!

[@Bbbuddy]

Boy, was my boss pissed when our office had to be closed during the flood. They wouldn’t let anyone have time off for any reason. Even Christmas had been abolished in favor of a floating “personal day” to prevent non-Christians from getting an extra day off.

[@nhmikey1]

Glad it's still there. Cities like to destroy buildings like this. Ex Pennsylvania Station, Chicago Federal Building etc.

[@Cheeseatingjunglista]

Truly astonishing, so many decades ahead of its time, even today few have achieved this level of connectivity. Its such a pity the tunnels were abandoned in favor of trucks - in Germany an IKEA building is nearing completion that seeks to replicate this magnificent construction using freight tunnels to reduce traffic on the streets outside, creating a pedestrianised boulevard with open air Parisien style cafes and eateries - it has won numerous awards for being the mixed use office and retail space of tomorrow - guess no one bothered to point out theyr are 100 years too late for that claim!!! Seriously it is the kind of development urban planners could only dream of being able to build today, passenger rail could have been routed through it, the tunnels could have taken your purchases to road dispatch much closer to final destination, electric trucks doing the final mile delivery - what we can only dream of today, clean air, comfort, rapid transit, mixed retail and office development, the list goes on. So far ahead of its time, its true value was not even realized till decades later. Fantastic vid, well done Ryan!!!

[@billwilson3609]

There's more levels of roads beneath Chicago's Downtown streets for tractor-trailers and straight trucks.

[@theotherjohnfromjersey2262]

@@billwilson3609 yup, ya got yer lower Wacker, yer upper Wacker, and yer Really Wacky upper upper Wacker.

[@adamcontreras1486]

To answer regarding Q101, they just returned to radio after several years of hiatus. However, while I have no clue where they're headquartered, I do know that Mancow hasn't been on Q101 since 2006. He since was on TV, 97.9fm The Loop, and 890 WLS, ending his radio run in 2020, when he left due to censorship and a failed gubernatorial run

[@acdii]

He quit radio due to Covid and the quarantines and lockdowns. He stated he couldn't do the show the way he wanted to with everyone being remote and it took away from the "fun" he had doing the show. The Gov run was started in January 2022.

[@211212112]

It would seem if a person explored such a big building through enough one could find some abandoned or rarely accessed area(s) in which to live. Im sure plenty of such places exist. From janitor/boiler rooms to areas only accessed by a single door in a long hallway full of similar doors.

[@kevinm5564]

Most underrated channel on KZbin.

[@dontedrake2316]

That is true mancow did have a show and merchandise mart I think his studio still there great channel keep up the great content

[@chiron14pl]

I was fortunate to have my office in the Mart for a few years. It's a wonderful building

[@sictoday]

16:20. I have now acquired a sight picture for the bottom of the tuckerton tower. I some how have recognize its base profile in at least 3 recent videos I’ve watched. Thanks for that. BMPardone

[@lobecosc]

Very interesting. Great video.

[@hiramlewis3873]

I worked there in the basement at the Bank Of America. When 911 happened, that's where I was working. We were all concerned if we were a target because we were so close to the Mercantile Center. After 12pm or so they let us go home.