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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Sponsor - Magellan TV
Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash
Editor -Iryna Dukla
Host - Ryan Socash
Thumbnail Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/9QQnHy H. Michael Miley

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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.