[1] Built for Chicago Tribune owner Robert R. McCormick, since 2018 it has been converted into luxury residences and in 2023 won a Driehaus Prize for architectural preservation and adaptive reuse from Landmarks Illinois.

The competition worked brilliantly for months as a publicity stunt, and the resulting entries still reveal a unique turning point in American architectural history.

Saarinen's tower was preferred by architects like Louis Sullivan, and was a strong influence on the next generation of skyscrapers, including Raymond Hood's own subsequent work on the McGraw-Hill Building and the Rockefeller Center.

In the 1980 book entitled The Tribune Tower Competition published by Rizzoli, authors Robert A. M. Stern, Stanley Tigerman as well as Bruce Abbey and other architects jokingly submitted "late entries" in Volume II of the work.

By 1922 the neo-Gothic skyscraper had become an established design tactic, with the first important so-called "American Perpendicular Style" at Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building of 1913.

Rene Paul Chambellan contributed his sculpture talents to the buildings ornamentation, gargoyles and the Aesops' Screen over the main entrance doors.

Rene Chambellan worked on other projects with Raymond Hood including the American Radiator Building and Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Stones included in the wall are from such sites as the St. Stephen's Cathedral, Trondheim Cathedral, Taj Mahal, Clementine Hall, the Parthenon, Hagia Sophia, Süleymaniye Mosque, Corregidor Island, Palace of Westminster, petrified wood from the Redwood National and State Parks, the Great Pyramid, The Alamo, Notre-Dame de Paris, Abraham Lincoln's Tomb, the Great Wall of China, Independence Hall, Fort Santiago, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Wawel Castle, Banteay Srei, and Rouen Cathedral's Butter Tower, which inspired the shape of the building.

[10][11] On April 11, 2006, the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum opened, occupying two stories of the building, including the previous location of high-end gift store Hammacher Schlemmer.

[16][17] The statue was dedicated on June 4, 1940, with an event that included musical performances and an address by Professor William Warren Sweet, attended by high school Reserve Officers' Training Corps members.

[19] The pedestal states that it is "Dedicated to the reserve officers of America" and the statue's base has Hale's famous quote "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.