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Empire State Building: Made by Hand

Building Its Skeleton

Building Its Skeleton

Riveters create the steel framework of the mooring mast for the ESB. The spire was originally meant to be a mooring mast for dirigible aircraft, but the idea was quickly scrapped after high winds during the first attempts made it obvious that docking blimps there would likely invite disaster.

Photo: Lewis W. Hine/Getty Images

Jan 01, 1931