Commercial real estate in Chicago , Illinois boomed in the late 1870s due to the recovery from the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and the Depression of 1873 – 79 . In 1880 , William Ellery Hale purchased a small lot in the Loop community area containing the four-story First National Bank Building , one of the few offices in downtown Chicago to partially survive the Great Fire . Hale was the founder of the Hale Elevator Company , an early producer of hydraulic elevators necessary in skyscraper design . Hale envisioned a new tower on the site , but first needed to raze the existing structure . However , its tenants did not want to terminate their leases
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Reliance Building