On this day in 1927, a new ten-story skyscraper the size of a fifteen acre farm was unveiled to the public: the Sears Crosstown Building.
Interestingly, Chamber of Commerce President Phil Canale compared this new building to the pyramid in the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis (although the Bluff City’s actual Pyramid would not be build until 1991).
At the time, the Sears Crosstown Building was one of three major tourist destinations (alongside the Peabody Hotel and Memphis Zoo) before it became vacant by 1993.
However, passionate preservationists sought to breathe new life into the building, a dream which would be fulfilled when in August of 2017 (ninety years after its initial opening) the Crosstown Concourse was opened to the public.
