Editor’s Note: Jack Becker is the editor of Caprock Chronicles and is a Librarian Emeritus fromTexas Tech University He can be gotten to at jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s short article concerning the Great Plains Life Building is the initial of a two-part collection by constant factor Chuck Lanehart, Lubbock lawyer and prize-winning Western background author.
Mother Nature frankly tried to level the only raised location in a notoriously level neighborhood, yet nearly 55 years later on, Lubbock’s highest structure still stands. Some think the location is turned, haunted or otherwise unfavorable, a symbol of a decreasing midtown location. Others think about the tower an icon of town hall healing. What is truth tale of the Great Plains Life/Metro Tower/ NTS Tower/Metro Tower Lofts Building?
Between 1940 and 1950, Lubbock was the 2nd fastest-growing city in the United States (behind Albuquerque), so to suit the anticipated business need, a high-rise building remained in order.
In 1952, building and construction started on a $2.5 million, looming 20-story office complex on the northeast edge of Broadway and Avenue L. The room was previously inhabited by the long time house of Lubbock’s leader Wheelock family members.
The designer,Realty Equities Corp of New York, worked with kept in mind Abilene engineer David S. Castle, that developed the framework in mid-twentieth centuryInternational Style Hailed as the highest structure in between Fort Worth and Denver, it would certainly climb 274 feet, overshadowing all various other frameworks in Lubbock.
According to a 1953 news article, “The Lubbock skyscraper now under construction would be the best place in town to be when it is finished, in case a tornado should hit. Such buildings are harder to tear down. Tornadoes that have hit other cities . . . have proved multi-storied steel reinforced buildings can weather the storm.”
The short article proceeded, “When the building is completed, along with a new $1,000,000 plus store for Dunlap’s just across the street . . . and completion
of the new First Methodist Church, the downtown business section of Lubbock will have gained a new ‘glamour’ look surpassing the wildest dreams of a few years past.”
Opened for service in 1955, the leading flooring was crowned with huge neon indications reviewing “Great Plains Life,” a regional insurance provider which inhabited numerous floorings of the structure. Alas, the indications were not noticeable in Lamesa, 60 miles southern, as marketers had actually really hoped. Smaller join the initial flooring notified Lubbock’s age-old First National Bank likewise currently called the location home.
Among various other organizations which rented room in the structure’s 110,000 square feet were law practice, engineers, federal government workplaces, doctors and dental professionals. The Top of the Plains dining establishment shared the 20th flooring with radio terminal KLLL, where young video jockey Waylon Jennings rotated documents and associated his pal Buddy Holly.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal released advertisements nearly daily obtaining lessees, promoting the structure as “fully air-conditioned,” with “superb janitor service and noise-proof ceilings” and “very reasonable” rental fees. But by 1970, First National Bank, significant law practice and also the Great Plains Life Insurance Company had actually moved. Just 50 percent of the structure was inhabited.
When the historical tornado got to midtown Lubbock the evening of May 11, 1970, it was a beast with winds surpassing 200 miles per hour, and the Great Plains Life Building stood in its harmful course. The twister was just one of the biggest and most harmful taped. Twenty- 6 individuals were eliminated, hundreds were hurt, and residential or commercial property damages was approximated at $840 million ($ 6.7 billion in 2024 bucks).
The Great Plains Life Building– simply 6 blocks from the twister’s major track– took an appealed the southwest edge as the tornado continued in its southwest to north northeast course. Wind speed near the top of the structure got to 220 miles per hour. Occupants that got away the framework throughout the tornado reported it was relocating “like a ship rolling in the sea.”
Aerial images taken quickly after the catastrophe reveal the structure standing wonderfully amidst plain destruction in the bordering location. Everyone was fretted the 20-story pillar would certainly quickly drop. Windows were damaged, blocks were surprised, and there were records the framework was visibly
guiding. A civil protection vehicle rolled with neighboring roads alerting, “Get back, the Great Plains Building is falling!”
Within days, designers analyzed all 20 floorings and left persuaded the tower was structurally steady and would certainly not fall. Attorney Clancey Brazill, that remained in the structure when the twister struck, stated, “I’ll give you an Oklahoma guarantee that if that building didn’t fall Monday night it never will.”
Nevertheless, residents was afraid the emotional impact of the structure being struck by the tornado would certainly impede future procedures there. They were right, and for many years, the uninhabited framework was home just to pigeons and mischief-makers.
Part 2 of this collection will certainly be released in following Sunday’s Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
This short article initially showed up on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Caprock Chronicles Great Plains Life Building and 1970 Lubbock twister
