When you think of Chicago architecture, towering skyscrapers like the Sears Tower (now grudgingly known as the Willis Tower) are among the first buildings that spring to mind. But some of the Windy City’s most impressive architecture occupies a massive horizontal footprint. The Merchandise Mart, for example, takes up 4 million square feet of floor space and for decades held its own ZIP code.
While miles and miles of offices, home-decor purveyors and foodservice locations occupy the Merch Mart, another horizontal Chicago masterpiece sits empty. The Old Chicago Main Post Office, whose 2.5 million square feet of floor space once were occupied by—you guessed it, the United States Postal Service, was vacated in 1995 and has sat unused ever since. In January, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the city would attempt to seize the building through eminent domain and, to paraphrase, get the party started.
While reno ideas ranging from a water park to a shopping mall have been floated, I’ve got a plan that’ll turn this whole city on its head—food! More specifically, an enormous farmers market, capable of hosting purveyors from around the Midwest.
This isn’t the first time I’ve used this space to advocate for old buildings learning new tricks. The rebirth of foods halls from L.A. to Atlanta is a beautiful example of developers respecting the visions of architects and preserving them for the future. Noncommercial operators are taking these lessons into their own hands, as seen in the overhaul of a 104-year-old dining hall at Maryville College. But Chicago has the chance to do something even more impactful for its community in the way of access to, and education about, fresh produce.
I’m often baffled by comments from K-12 operators in our pages about students who think fruits and vegetables originate from the grocery store. This month’s 3Q with Andrea Bersamin from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Alaska Native Health Research showed me that attitude extends to fish as well. From class trips to shopping with their parents, a Chicago Post Office Farmers Market could provide a much-needed lesson on exactly where kids’ food is coming from—lessons they will carry throughout their lives as eaters.
So while I may not have the political clout to get this idea off the ground, I hope Mayor Emanuel takes the Old Chicago Main Post Office Farmers Market into consideration, for the sake of both the building and Chicagoans present and future. I’ll even let him do something about that name—it’s kind of a clunker.