Empire State Building

Construction on the Empire State Building began March 17, 1930. It was an entry in a competition the city of New York was holding to make the tallest building in the world. The design for the building came from Gregory Johnson and his company. Johnson, along with the help from his team, had the blueprints ready in only two weeks. The Empire State Building sits on what was once the John Thompson farm.

The workers were abundant, with their numbers in the mid 3,000 range. Many of the workers were Mohawk and European immigrants. They worked very well together, framing up four and a half floors per week. This fast-paced working rate was helpful in the competition to be the tallest building in the world. The Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street were fighting for this title at the same time, but the Empire State Building ended up being the winner.

The Empire State building was finished after 410 days of construction. Unfortunately, it was opened around the same time the Great Depression started. This left the building un-rented for many years, and very unprofitable. In 1951, it was finally sold for a record-breaking 51 million dollars. The building has continued to flourish into modern times.

There are debates on how to classify the world's tallest buildings and sadly, the Empire State Building has been put to rest for some time in that category. There are now many buildings that dwarf it, but all of these new, taller buildings lack the heart and soul that was put into the building of the Empire State Building.