The Empire State Building: How New York Defied Gravity in 410 Days

In 1930, at the height of the Great Depression, New York City built the world's tallest skyscraper in just 410 days — faster than most cities approve a permit today.

Three towers competed for the title of world's tallest. The Empire State Building would crush them all. The old Waldorf-Astoria hotel was demolished in weeks to clear the site, and on March 17, 1930, steel columns began rising at an astonishing pace: four and a half floors per week.

A steel beam left Pittsburgh and was riveted into place eighty floors up — all within 80 hours. Eleven custom derrick cranes leapfrogged upward as the tower grew, keeping pace with the relentless schedule.

Every morning, 3,400 workers climbed the naked steel frame — no harnesses, no safety nets. Among them: Mohawk ironworkers from Kahnawake, Quebec, who balanced barefoot on beams high above the Manhattan clouds.

On May 1, 1931, President Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C. — and the Empire State Building's lights blazed over Manhattan. It stood as king of the skyline for 40 years.