Thursday, December 24, 2009
Landmarks Sears Crosstown Under Construction in 1920s
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Look — they even ran railroad tracks down Cleveland (or Watkins) to bring materials to the site.
The authors of Memphis: An Architectural Guide note that this was the biggest building in Memphis at the time, and when it opened in 1927, "Sears proudly proclaimed that it covered more ground than the Great Pyramid in Egypt."
And like those pyramids in Egypt, it stands today as empty as a tomb.
Comments (18)
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It's about time that they do something with this building other than let the people throw rocks or bricks through the windows. It is such a beautiful building and I can still see my grandparents walking my brothers and sisters into the entrance of the Sears building and buying us shoes. That building has a lot of sentimental memories for a lot of us Memphians who have lived here all their lives and can remember doing the same things that we all did when we were kids and went into the Sears building and just being a part of history. My husband is not from here but even he appreciated all of the history in the buildings that we have here in Memphis. Let's just try to be grateful that someone went into this building and that they are willing to do something with this great piece of history.
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I thought that the railroad tracks were there because the building was a distribution center for Sears, not because they were put there for construction. I don't recall anyone actually telling me that, though, so it might have just been an assumption that I made years ago and eventually took to be fact.
As for the placement: the tracks that I know of ran perpendicular to Cleveland, not down it; after cutting across the street they ran along the right hand side of the building. Presently the old rail line forms the VE Greenline, and right before the Greenline hits Cleveland there is a foot bridge over North Parkway that still has parts of the tracks on it.
I love railroads -- parts of an old county rail line went up for sale maybe 25 years ago and my father bought a section of track with a big iron (or steel?) bridge cutting over Grey's Creek. My sister and I used to play on it when we were kids. One of the bridges out there collapsed about five years ago but the one over the creek is still standing.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but these tracks in front of Sears look temporary to me, with the ties laid directly on the ground and no gravel beneath them. Rhodes College did a similar thing — bringing in a railroad line while they were building the school in the 1920s. Those tracks stretched diagonally (southeastward) from the northwest corner of the campus and, I believe, connected to the rail line that was later pulled up to form the VECA Greenline.
I live right in front of the Sears Crosstown Building (on Garland), and I really love the structure. It looms over my backyard like some kind of empty evil lair.
I really hope that something is done with the building soon - I would hate to see it get so far into disrepair that it can't be used. Other cities (Minneapolis, Indianapolis) have similar Sears buildings that have been revamped into mixed use space. If ours were given a similar treatment, it would do wonders for my neighborhood.
Not sure when the tracks closed. I think in the 1980's. Here is a shot of the Minneapolis Sears building last July. The security guard thought I was a terrorist for taking photos of the building!!
http://devingreaney.smugmug.com/Other/Minn…
Oh, how pretty! It would be wonderful if the Memphis Sears Crosstown building could be reused like that!!
Devin, thanks for showing the picture of the Sears in Minneapolis. Wow, they really built some terrific buildings! I wonder what some of the others erected around this same time look like today (hint hint). Surely ours can't be the only one sitting forlorn and empty, but you never know until someone actually searches for them. Someone besides me, I mean (hint hint hint hint HINT).
I have a postcard of this building, and it showed a large red sign at the top of the tower reading "SEARS". There was one on all 4 sides of the tower. Can anyone tell me what type of sign this was? (wooden, neon, etc.) And what ever happened to it, anyway?
Here's a link to see what Cambridge, MA, is doing with their Sears building:
http://www.themodernboston.com/photo/Cambr…
Here's Atlanta's.
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/commerci…
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/sea…
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/sea…
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/sea…
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/sea…
Here's a page that shows ya what happened to Philadelphia's:
http://www.implosionworld.com/record.htm
Kansas City actually had two; here's what happened to one of them:
http://www.eastbears.org/pics/history/sear…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweltephoto/3…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50727488@N00/…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50727488@N00/…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50727488@N00/…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50727488@N00/…
(At least ours didn't end up like this one or Philadelphia's.)
Here's Kansas City's, and yes, it still stands today. Sears, Roebuck & Co., only used this building for 12 years before it was sold and replaced with one I just showed you (ya know, da one they imploded?). It is now upscale residential property known as Northland Lofts.
http://www.kcphotos.com/gallery/albums/urb…
http://images02.olx.com/ui/4/46/95/f_44554…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34783327@N08/…
Here's Dallas'
http://dallaslibrary.org/texas/photogaller…
http://www.southsideonlamar.com/index.html
(just so ya know, you can skip the intro)
http://images01.olx.com/ui/1/40/83/f_38213…
Here's a place for you to find a video of Philadelphia's being imploded.
http://www.implosionworld.com/cinema.htm
One last shot of Atlanta's
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/372110…
And here's a few cool shots of ours
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/…
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pB8eQs89dZ8/RsKN…
(What a vew!)
http://www.laj-bus-assoc.com/posts/sears.j…
Here's a few more of Chicago's; for some reason, it's hard to find (probably upstaged by the Sears Tower).
http://www.searsarchives.com/history/image…
http://www.communitywalk.com/photos/2/53/2…
"The tower was at the center of the Sears, Roebuck & Co., compound that was the largest employer in North Lawndale and Garfield Park from 1906 to the 1960s. At its peak, Sears headquarters and distribution center (shown in the accompanying photograph) in North Lawndale employed more than 35,000 people. When large numbers of African Americans settled in North Lawndale between the late 1940s and 1960s, Sears continued to employ a nearly all-white workforce. White workers commuted into the plant, while black workers in the area struggled to find jobs. Beginning in 1954, Sears was the largest supporter of the Greater Lawndale Conservation Commission [GLCC], a group of local residents and business leaders that sought to maintain the middle-class character of the neighborhood and to stem the tide of large-scale black migration. The leaders of the Association of Block Councils of Greater Lawndale such as Gloria Pughsley, Dorothy Sutton Branch, and L. C. Branch, grew frustrated with the limits Sears officials placed on the GLCC programs, and broke away from the GLCC to form the Lawndale People's Planning Action Committee (LPPAC). As LPPAC member Rose Marie Love put it, the LPPAC "wanted to do something the conservative portion of GLCC did not want to get involved in," to build housing and develop jobs for low-income residents. In 1974, Sears moved its offices back to the Loop, and in 1987, closed down the distribution facility. In the 1990s, on 54 acres of land formerly used by Sears Roebuck as parking lots, a mix of public and private funds created the Homan Square development, which offers rental and owner-occupied housing, a community center, and office space."
