Chicago's tallest building celebrates 50 years dominating city skyline

CHICAGO - For longtime Chicagoans, it will forever be known as the "Sears Tower."

On Wednesday, the iconic high-rise celebrated 50 years dominating the city skyline.

With its official name these days of "Willis Tower," we're told the building is seeing activity at pre-COVID levels and at times exceeding it. The 110-story skyscraper ended the Empire State Building's four-decade reign as the world's tallest building on May 3rd, 1973.

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While looking back on the past 50 years and exciting new developments inside the tower, things are looking up.

"I really think it's a lot what we did with Catalog. Catalog is what we tip the hat to Sears, Roebuck and Company for what use to be the way people shopped. It's our three-hundred-thousand square foot retail emporium," said Randy Stancik, General Manager of Skydeck Chicago.

Building officials say "Catalog" merges office space with leisure travel to become a destination for people who live in Chicago and out-of-towners alike.

Some towering stats about the building: it has 16,000 windows, around 990 toilets, and enough wiring to go around the planet 25 times.

And of course, The Ledge – which hangs off the skydeck – has thrilled and terrified tens of thousands of guests.