Building of Manhattan

Preface Introduction In the Beginning The Manhattan Indians And Then the Dutch Came Wood, Stone, and Brick Fort Amsterdam / Stuyvesant Surrenders 1664: New Amsterdam Is Now New York Colonial New York: 1664-1783 Mechanicks, Slaves, and Apprentices Capital of the New Nation: 1785-1790 1811: A Plan for Growth Population Pressures: 1811-1850 The Cast-Iron Building The "Safety Hoister" Raises the Roof The Wonder of the Imagination The Skill of the Engineer The Iron Skeleton / "An Iron Bridge Truss Stood on End" 1850 to 1900 The Flatiron Building: 1901 The Woolworth Building: 1913 Boom and Bust: 1900-1930 The Empire State Building: 1930-1931 The Riveter: $1.92 Plus Half a Cent an Hour The Derrick Courage . . . Skill . . . and Preparation Midtown Manhattan . . . Rockefeller Center: 1931 Out of the Depression: 1930-1965 Downtown Manhattan . . . the World Trade Center: 1966-1971 Keeping the Hudson River Out A Problem in Levitation / Carrying the Weight A City Within the City Zoning: An Attempt to Set Rational Limits The Architect: Concept and Detail / The City's Vital Services The Busy Underground The Subway Water Fit to Drink Electricity . . . Lifeline of the City Steam Gas Telephone / And Empire City Subway Sewage Going . . . Going . . . . . . Gone Test Borings / And Drilling Rock The Power of Compressed Air The Excavators Dynamite! Stand Clear! / Hard Hats Who Does What at a Construction Site / The Surveyor Shoring Up the Outer Walls The Foundation / Digging in Lower Manhattan Bull's Liver and Other Problems As the City Builds Concrete The Reinforced Concrete Skyscraper From Liquid Mass to Hardened Solid Salamanders The Big Cranes Tower Cranes Assembling a Tower Crane / Raising the Crane's Height Private Places / Public Spaces Steel Steel / And Ironworkers Look Out Below! / Spud Wrenches From Beam / To Beam The Welder / The Floors Take Shape The Outer Skin Trades and Unions Up and Down . . . at 20 Miles an Hour Skyscraper Stress Acrophobia . . . Fear of Heights The Sounds of the City Topping Out Acknowledgments Sources