Today in history: World Trade Center - Twin Towers
Hello Steemians!
Welcome to today's episode of the "Today in History" serial, where I bring you daily historical facts and events of the current date.
Today in 1964, plans were disclosed for the World Trade Center in New York.
The World Trade Center consisted of 7 Building, the Twin Towers included.
Minoru Yamasaki was named the lead architect in 1962, with Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects.
*Minoru Yamasaki *
The area to build the WTC was purchased in March 1964. by the Port Authority and demolition of the area begun a year after, shortly after announcement of the plans.
Prior to the WTC it was a Radio Row, and each business owner was compensated $3,000.
The Radio row - 1936.
The first brick was put down on August 5, 1966, with the North tower starting to emerge on August 1968, and the South Tower shortly after, in January 1969.
*WTC under construction - 1970.
The towers were officially completed with a ceremony on April 4, 1973. with 110 stories tall they stood about 415m in heights and had 930,000m2 of office space which made room for 50,000 workers.
On February 13, 1975, the Twin towers successfully survived a fire, and on February 1993, a bombing with 680kg of explosives planted by Ramzi Yousef.
The 1993. bombing aftermath
On September 11, 2001, the two towers were destroyed, falling victims to the terrorist attack when the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 impacted with the towers.
Photo taken moments after impact - September 11, 2001
The disaster ended up with over 2,500 casualties and many more being wounded, while only 20 people were rescued and found alive.
After the demolition of the Twin Towers the reconstruction began, with the first site being opened in May 2006 and the first tower being reconstructed and opened on November 3, 2014, with the plans for the second tower being finished by 2020.
The new WTC
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction of the World Trade Center and its Twin Towers.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.pinterest.com
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com
https://www.youtube.com
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I really like the old pictures. Did you have the chance to visit to the new WTC? Still on my to-do list although I have been several times to NYC since then.
Thanks:), sadly no, still haven't visited it
Where are all the conspiracy theorists in the replies?