1. The Chicago Merchandise Mart: How the World’s Largest Commercial Building Fueled an American Political Dynasty
- Author:
- Kevin M. Higgins, Oenone Kubie, Courtney Bruno, and Christopher McKenna
- Publication Date:
- 09-2018
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Oxford Centre for Global History
- Abstract:
- Spanning 4.2 million square feet, two city blocks, and rising twenty-five stories high, the Merchandise Mart – the largest commercial building in the world – stands on the northern bank of the Chicago River. From the merchandising Hall of Fame in front of the Mart, one can watch passing architectural tours admiring the impressive Art Deco exterior of the building. These days, the Mart is home to high-end designers, advertising firms, and, increasingly, tech companies and start-up incubators. Within its vast interior, the industries of the Third Industrial Revolution have taken hold. Yet, when the Mart opened on 5 May 1930, no economic revolution was already established. By the early 1900s, the Second Industrial Revolution had brought assembly lines to factories, and the disassembly line to Chicago’s slaughterhouses, and it had seen electrification, telegraphs, and the railroads span the North American continent. But the revolution was already slowing by the third decade of the twentieth century. What had revolutionised industry in the nineteenth century now served as commonplace and not until well after the Second World War would Americans feel the first stirrings of another revolution as computation, telecommunications, and genetics again transformed the economy.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Capitalism, Commodities, Manufacturing, and Economic Development
- Political Geography:
- United States and Chicago