Documenting construction of The Empire State Building Thanks to Lewis Hine the history behind building this monument will be preserved forever. The building was ready to open by April 1931, just 13 months after construction began. Structural steel work was completed twelve days ahead of schedule. Thanks to their hard work, the Empire State Building was built in record time, averaging four and a half stories a week. These factors made building the Empire State Building dangerous, but didn’t prevent the sky boys from pushing onward. When it rained, there was a danger of slipping when it was bitterly cold, stiff or numb hands could not hold onto anything. The one danger the workers heeded? The weather.Īs fearless as the riveters and iron workers seemed, the weather seemed to be the only thing that made them fearful. I learned, don’t look down, just look to the end of the beam.” Workplace dangers Sky boys surprisingly weren’t afraid of heights. Joe Carbonell, who was sixteen years old when he worked on the site, remembered, “It was kind of a thrill working on the beams. Supporting the workers were the water boys, who carried water buckets to the thirsty construction workers and sometimes peddled cigarettes. “It’s safer up here than it is down below,” he said, pointing to the chaotic streets. “It isn’t really as dangerous as it looks,” claimed one of the workers. London’s Daily Mail compared the workers to classical heroes: “They were right there, in the flesh, outwardly prosaic, incredibly nonchalant, crawling, climbing, walking, swinging, swooping on gigantic steel frames….”ĭespite the danger, the sky boys seemed cool and calm. Passersby stood three and four deep, taking deep breaths as they watched the steelworkers at their acrobatic work. From the top you can admire the impressive work of the Sky Boys. They rode into the air on top of a steel beam that they maneuvered into place as a crosspiece by hanging to the cable rope and steering the beam with their feet, then strolling on the thin edge of nothingness.”Īlong with the steelworkers were the intrepid teams of riveters, who drove red-hot rivets into the beams, fastening them into place to create the building’s steel skeleton. The New York Times wrote that they “put on the best open-air show in town. The gravity-defying iron workers balanced on narrow beams or hung from derrick lines hundreds, and even thousands, of feet above the city’s streets. The Sky Boys put on the best open-air show in town. At the peak, there were about 3,000 men at work on the building-including carpenters, bricklayers, derrick men, elevator installers, electricians, plumbers, heating and ventilation men, trade inspectors, checkers, foremen, and clerks.īut it was the sky boys-the daredevil steel workers and riveters-who most inspired awe. Most workers were eager European immigrant laborers. Given the city’s financial straits, jobs on the project were coveted. Excavation for the Empire State Building began on January 22nd, 1930, less than three months after the Wall Street crash. Remembering The Empire State Building workersīuilding the Empire State Building: The beginning Building the Empire State Building took guts! Photo credit: John SalvinoĪt the peak of construction, there were 3,000 people working on the Empire State Building.Documenting construction of The Empire State Building.Building the Empire State Building: The beginning.
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