One For The Road: The Day The Sears Tower Opened

By Samantha Abernethy in News on May 3, 2012 10:30PM

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On this date in 1971, the Sears Tower opened, the tallest building in the world. The Tribune writes:

Several thousand employees gathered outside the soaring Sears Tower for a topping-out ceremony that would see a 2,500-pound steel girder bearing 12,000 signatures hoisted more than a quarter-mile into the sky. It was now the tallest building in the world. The ceremony had been anticipated since the company's decision in 1970 to move its headquarters from Homan Avenue on the West Side. To the city's relief, the new location would not be in the suburbs but at Wacker Drive and Jackson Boulevard, on the western edge of downtown Chicago.

"I want to thank (Sears) for staying in Chicago when so many are leaving," Mayor Richard J. Daley said.

Yeah, yeah, "Willis Tower" whatever.