The Morrison Hotel was a

high rise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

at the corner of

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

and Clark Streets in the downtown

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

community area of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. It was designed by the architectural firm of

Holabird & Roche The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

and completed in 1925. The hotel was demolished in 1965 to make room for the First National Bank Building (now Chase Tower). The hotel was named for Orsemus Morrison, the first coroner in Chicago, who bought the site in 1838 and in 1860 built a three-story hotel with 21 rooms. Destroyed in the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

of 1871, this was replaced by an eight-story building. In 1915 Harry C. Moir, who had bought the property from Morrison's nephew, built a 21-floor, 500-room hotel designed by

Marshall and Fox Marshall and Fox was a United States architectural firm based in Chicago from 1905 to 1926. The principals, Benjamin H. Marshall and Charles E. Fox, designed a number of significant buildings of many types in Chicago and other cities, but they wer ...

. The hotel was expanded by 650 rooms in 1918. In 1925 the firm

further expanded it, adding a 46-story tower. The hotel had 1,800 rooms in 1931. A fourth, 21-story section was then added, bringing the number of rooms to 2,210, but was sold in 1937, becoming the Hotel Chicagoan; in the 1950s this was operated under lease by the Morrison. In 1952 a syndicate bought the Morrison and renovated it.

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

"Midwestern Landmark To Vanish: Morrison Hotel In Chicago Ends Colorful History"
'' Reading Eagle''. November 13, 1964. p. 17. AP
"Chicago's Morrison Hotel Being Razed; Was Mecca For Famous Entertainers"
''

The Gettysburg Times ''The Gettysburg Times'' is an American newspaper in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania owned by the Sample News Group. It published daily, except for Sundays, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. The ''Times'' was founded in 1902 as ''The Progress'', but i ...

''. May 6, 1965. p. 4. The 1873 Morrison Hotel housed the Boston Oyster House in its basement. In the skyscraper hotel, the Terrace Casino opened in 1936 with a performance by Sophie Tucker and was an important

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

venue; the Carousel in the Sky was the world's highest nightclub; the Jockey Club on the first floor was the site of protests by the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

that forced removal of its black jockey statues. Presidents Truman,

Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, and Kennedy and Vice-Presidents Barkley and

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

stayed at the hotel; boxer

Jack Dempsey William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926 ...

was also a frequent guest.

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 23, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George. In the United States, during the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s–1950s, Gorgeous ...

was a daily client of the beauty parlor. From 1932 on, the headquarters of the Cook County Democratic machine was on the third floor of the Morrison. Joe "Hold 'Em" Powers spent a world record 16 days on the hotel flagpole in 1927, despite losing six teeth when wind blew him into cables. In 1931, the

Air Line Pilots Association The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the largest pilot union in the world, representing more than 59,000 pilots from 35 U.S. and Canadian airlines. ALPA was founded on 27 July 1931 and is a member of the AFL-CIO and the Canadia ...

was founded in the hotel's ballroom. In June of 1937, the hotel served as the location in which the ''Chicago Herald-Examiner'' kept the notorious murderer Robert Irwin sequestered while negotiating terms of his surrender to authorities in Manhattan. Standing high, the Morrison Hotel was the first building outside of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to have more than 40 floors, and for thirty years was the world's tallest hotel. At the time of its razing in 1965, it was the tallest building to have ever been demolished anywhere in the world. At the time it was demolished, it was still the tallest hotel in Chicago.

Notes

{{Chicago Former buildings and structures in Chicago Former skyscrapers Skyscraper hotels in Chicago Demolished hotels in Chicago Hotel buildings completed in 1925 1925 establishments in Illinois Buildings and structures demolished in 1965 1965 disestablishments in Illinois

See also

Notes