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Local Landmarks & Heritage

  • Nichols Tower (former Sears Merchandise Building tower)
  • Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center
  • Sears Administration Building (Chicago Landmark, 2002)
  • Homan Square Community Center (2001)

Neighborhood History

Homan Square takes its name from Homan Avenue, the street running through the 41-acre campus Sears, Roebuck and Company assembled in North Lawndale starting in 1904 under company president Julius Rosenwald. Designed by Nimmons and Fellows and completed in 1905-06, the complex served as Sears' world headquarters until 1973 and its mail-order operations center until 1993, at its peak the largest commercial building in the world and home to radio station WLS, an acronym for "World's Largest Store."

When Sears finally left in the early 1990s, developer Charlie Shaw partnered with the company and the surrounding community to redevelop the site into a mixed-income neighborhood, breaking ground on new housing in 1993. The Merchandise Building's tower survives today as the Nichols Tower, and the former Power House, now the Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center, earned a LEED Platinum renovation. The Homan Square Community Center, built in 2001, brought a pool, gym, and theater to a neighborhood that had gone without for decades.

MY-NHD's Homan Square collection is built for a neighborhood that turned the shell of the world's largest store into a national model for bringing a community back.

MY-NHD

Homan Square - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie

Homan Square - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie

Regular price $46.95 CAD
Regular price Sale price $46.95 CAD
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Homan Square is named for Homan Avenue, which ran through the 41-acre campus Sears, Roebuck built in North Lawndale from 1904. Sears left in the early 1990s, and the site was redeveloped as a mixed-income neighborhood, with the old tower still standing.

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