The evolution of the convention and trade show industry has created ever changing customer needs. Since McCormick Place opened, it has worked to meet those customers’ needs by operating one of the most effective and innovative operations in the country. With 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space and the versatility to host both mega-trade shows and smaller meetings, McCormick Place is North America’s premier convention center.
Colonel Robert R. McCormick, former owner of the Chicago Tribune, first planted the seed for today’s McCormick Place in the late 1940’s. Following the success of a Railroad Exposition in 1948 and 1949, Col. McCormick recognized the need for a permanent exhibition hall in Chicago and led the charge to ensure its construction.
In 1955, the State of Illinois created a unit of local government known as the Metropolitan Fair and Exposition Authority--the forerunner of the present Authority--to manage the facility. Although Col. McCormick did not live to see his dream realized, the hall opened its doors in 1960 bearing the name of its founder.
After enjoying seven years of success, the original McCormick Place building was destroyed by fire in 1967. Through a $15 million State appropriation and the establishment of a long-term bonding mechanism, a new and more comprehensive facility was opened in 1971. This building, and the addition of the North Building in 1986, comprised McCormick Place until 1993, when the groundbreaking for a massive McCormick Place expansion took place.
This expansion included the construction of the new South Building, which opened in December of 1996. The expansion project also included a glass-enclosed Grand Concourse that connects all three McCormick Place buildings (the South Building, the North Building and Lakeside Center – the former East Building). The North Building has also been renovated, while the East Building (re-named “Lakeside Center”) was retrofitted in 1998 to meet the needs of small or mid-sized events of all types.
The adjacent Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Conference Center offers up an additional 28 meeting rooms.
The new West Building provides a high ratio of meeting space to exhibit space to give the convention center the flexibility to host more small to mid-sized events. This new building provides approximately 470,000 square feet of exhibit space and about 250,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 100,000-square-foot ballroom, which is one of the largest in the country.