At 11:00 a.m., a Who’s Who of Chicagoans, along with General Electric representatives and construction workers, gathered in a circus tent on State Street to give speeches, be photographed in front of and on construction equipment, and officially break ground at Marina City. (Left) Jack Lenahan captured this aerial view for the Chicago Sun-Times from the roof of a building across Dearborn Street on November 22, 1960. It shows people arriving for the Marina City groundbreaking ceremony and spectators watching from State Street. The ceremony was held in the tent at right. Buses, limousines, taxis, a WCFL news car, and other vehicles are parked on dirt surfaces near railroad tracks. In upper frame, Wabash Avenue passes the Chicago Sun-Times building. Case Foundation Company equipment and some construction materials are ready to resume site preparation as soon as the ceremony is finished.

Howard Swibel was ten years old when he attended the groundbreaking with his father, Charles, mother, Seena, and brother, Morris. “I remember the groundbreaking vividly,” he says. “I remember they had this big drill, and someone pulled a lever, and the thing started turning the ground.” The drill, an auger for boring holes, was eight stories tall and poked through the top of the tent from a raised platform. (Right) The hole dug by an auger to break ground. The Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson & Burnham Archives.

About 600 people attended the ceremony. The guest list that day included...

• Mayor Richard J. Daley
• Police Superintendent O.W. Wilson
• Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil
• William McFetridge, president of Local 1 of the Building Service Employees Union
• David Sullivan, president of Building Service Employees International Union
• Charles Swibel, president of Marina City Building Corporation
• Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg
• John T. Pirie, Jr., chairman of Carson Pirie Scott & Company
• Hughston M. McBain, former president of Marshall Field & Company
• Elmer E. Stevens, president of Charles A. Stevens & Company, a department store on State Street
• George R. Quin, president of Central Realty Company
• Maurice Goldblatt, who along with his brother, Nathan, founded a chain of discount stores in Chicago, including a flagship store at State & Van Buren Streets where DePaul University is now located.

David Sullivan had been on the job as president of the 250,000-member BSEIU since May 5, 1960, when he was elected to replace William L. McFetridge, who retired after 20 years as president. McFetridge continued as the 8,700-member Local 1 president.

Speaking by telephone from Palm Beach, Florida, president-elect of the United States John F. Kennedy praised the project.

“My congratulations to all of you on what you are doing to make Chicago more attractive,” he told the crowd, who could hear him over a loudspeaker. “Such projects will help keep central cities alive.”

After the speeches, Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil pulled a switch that started an electric augur with a helical bit that officially broke ground at Marina City. (Right) Photographers capture Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil about to throw the switch. Speaking to Sheil at left is Charles Swibel. On the other side of Sheil is William McFetridge and Mayor Daley.

Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (left) and other dignitaries switch on a drill made by Case Foundation Company to officially break ground at Marina City on November 22, 1960. At far right is Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil. To his right is Charles Swibel and to his right is Bertrand Goldberg. Next to Goldberg is Hughston M. McBain, who was president of Marshall Field & Company from 1943 to 1959. In the upper left corner is William A. Lee, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor from 1946 to 1984.

(Left to right) Unknown, David Sullivan (president of Building Service Employees International Union), Daley, John Waner (director of the FHA’s Chicago office), McFetridge, Sheil, and Swibel (far right).

In a lighter moment, real estate executive Charles Swibel, union president William McFetridge, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, and architect Bertrand Goldberg pretend to operate construction equipment following the Marina City groundbreaking ceremony on November 22, 1960.

Calm before the storm. This image was captured on November 21, 1960, the day before the groundbreaking ceremony, which will take place inside the tent. Case Foundation Company will continue with site preparation after the ceremony. This view looks west across the site, with the Chicago River at left and buildings along Dearborn Street in the distance. Photo by Bertrand Goldberg Associates.

While the VIPs had lunch at the Sherman House hotel at 100 West Randolph Street, where James R. Thompson Center would be located in 25 years, employees of Case Foundation Company went about the business of preparing the site for a five-building complex.