When Sears filed for bankruptcy last fall, many Chicagoans found themselves reminiscing about its glory days, particularly in North Lawndale, on the city’s West Side, where the retailer’s original headquarters still stand.
Built in the early 1900s, the site was the nerve center of Sears’s national mail order business. One of the largest and grandest industrial complexes in the United States, it was where products were made and the store’s catalog was printed. Features included an elaborate garden and a 14-story neo-Classical tower that broadcast the company’s radio station, WLS, which stood for World’s Largest Store.