But the only way to remain in the center of cities near the rails, ports and customers that businesses needed would be to grow up, and not out, in size. The Sears Tower took roughly three years and $175 million to build. The builders broke ground in August 1970 and set the first section of steel for the bundled tubes in place in June 1971. In 1969, Sears Roebuck and Company was the largest retailer in the world, with about 350,000 employees. Due to the majority of the employees, they decided they needed a central space. The company then hired architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill to design what would become one of the largest office buildings in the world. After breaking ground in 1970, it took three years to complete and used enough concrete to make an eight-lane, five-mile-long highway. The last beam put in place was commemorated by the signatures of 12,000 construction workers, Sears employees, and Chicagoans. In 1998, Sears Roebuck and Company was moved out of the building but sears Tower remained the same. In 2009 it was renamed the Willis Towers after the Willis Group holdings took over. The …show more content…
The first idea they had was a design a set of two identical towers, but they decided that the site would consist of not only the two large towers for the Treasury and Defense Departments and the Justice Department and Federal Courts but, for logistical reasons, a separate Post Office building was proposed. The Courthouse portion opened first in 1964. Following the demolition of the old courthouse in 1966, construction began on the other buildings. The new post office opened in 1973 and the federal building in 1974. In 1969, the courthouse was named for former Illinois senator Everett Dirksen, and the Federal Building was renamed in 1975 in honor of John C. Kluczynski, U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1951 until 1975, when he passed away while serving in