Chicago has a new skyscraper project ready to rise on the Chicago River at DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Construction just started at the site where a building called the Chicago Spire was planned more than a decade ago. That tower was to be 2,000 feet high — making it the tallest in North America. But money problems stalled construction in 2008, and the site has instead been home to a big hole in the ground for more than 15 years.

Now, two towers are set to be built on the site, including a residential building currently under construction. It’ll be 72 stories and is expected to be finished in early 2027.

And while Chicago isn’t going to reclaim the tallest building title, it is a city of firsts — everything from the first Ferris wheel to the first brownie and the world’s very first skyscraper.

In 1885, the Home Insurance Building went up on the corner of Adams and LaSalle streets. This architectural marvel clocked in at a staggering 12 stories and 180 feet. OK, maybe not a skyscraper by modern standards, but for its time it was an impressive feat, supported by a steel frame reinforced with concrete.

As the years ticked by, the City of Big Shoulders became a city of big buildings. Builders got more ambitious, and the heights just kept on getting higher — the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, Carbide and Carbon.

Less than 50 years after the Home Insurance Building was built and more than three times as tall, the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building rises — and reigns as the city’s tallest for more than three decades.

Later on, the Standard Oil Building, now known as the Aon Center, only held the title for a year before being beaten out in 1974 by the massive Sears Tower. At more than 1,400 feet, it became the tallest building not just in Chicago — but the world.

The Windy City skyline has changed a lot over the years. Aon is now only the city’s fourth tallest, still followed by the building it dethroned in 1973, the John Hancock Center — now 875 North Michigan Avenue.

The St. Regis, completed in 2020, is the city’s third tallest, while Trump Tower, completed in 2009, sits in the No. 2 spot.

The Willis Tower, as we now begrudgingly call it, still holds the title of tallest in Chicago but was long ago knocked off its perch as the tallest in the U.S. and the world. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, New York’s One World Trade Center is now tops in the country. Dear old Willis is third tallest in the U.S. and 23rd worldwide.

But even though we lost that top spot, Chicago’s place in the history of the skyscraper still towers above everyone else.