A Rockfeller Creation

The idea of building this huge monumental build was conceived in the initial days of 1960s. The idea was accepted by Downtown-Lower Manhattan Development Association with the main aim to refurbish the sleazy radio rows which were mainly dominated by mostly the electronic stores. However, the idea about the building these landmarks was further supported by David Rockfeller, the then Bank Chairman of Chase Manhattan and also the founder of the development association along with his brother and governor of New York city, Nelson Rockfeller. They believed that the project would bring in great benefit to the city and its future.

The Port Authority of New York City and New Jersey (PANYNJ) soon made plans to construct the monumental buildings in 1962. Minoru Yamasaki and Associates from Michigan were hired as the architects for the project. The project was later approved in 1966 and soon the construction procedures began. 5 streets in the city were closed and 164 buildings demolished in order to start the construction of the buildings. About 1.2 million cubic yards of land was to be excavated that was then used to create the 23.5 acres terrain across the Hudson River. A huge number of 3,500 people worked over the project while, 10,000 workers worked on its towers.

The work for the building began on 5th August 1966, while its ribbon cutting ceremony took place on April 4th, 1973. Initially, the towers were planned to have only about 80 to 90 floors, but it was later decided to make them the tallest buildings of the world. During the time of its destruction, the towers were ranked as the fifth and sixth most tallest buildings in the entire world. About 50,000 people were employed within the buildings and 200,000 others visited it every single day.

World Trade Center attack

Prior to 9/11, there was one more world trade center attack that occurred in 1993. The incident that killed 6 people and left 1,000 injured.