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75th Birthday for New York`s Tallest Building

The Empire State Building celebrated its 75th birthday Monday, after opening in 1931, during America?s Great Depression. The building, which took just 13 months to build, was the world`s tallest building for 40 years until the World Trade Center was built. After the tragedy of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks the Empire State once again became New York City`s tallest structure.

The iconic building employed more than 3,000 workers in its construction which provided jobs during a time of great unemployment. The building`s spire was originally supposed to be a mooring point for air ships, but the idea was quickly abandoned as dangerous. The composer George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Rivets especially for the opening ceremony.

On Monday, the lights shining on the building were white - just as they were when the building first opened for business. The Empire State building holds a place not just in the imagery of New York, but the American conscious. Many are the romantic notions of meeting atop the Empire State Building, or simply getting up to the top. Also many in number are the crazies who try to jump off of the observation deck as a publicity stunt.