World's Littlest Skyscraper
Wichita Falls in Texas, USA has an unusual building - a 40 feet (about 12
meter) tall "Skyscraper". Technically it doesn't fall in the category of
"Skyscraper" but still it is billed as Skyscraper - World's Littlest Skyscraper.
The building known as Newby-McMahon Building, is not famous for its size but gained fame
because of its historical background. It
came into existence due to a scam in 1919, when its builder (a Con Artist) sold its
space to gullible investors, who signed contract but failed to spot that all the dimensions of the
building were in inches instead of feet. The investors believed that they were
buying property in a 480 feet (150 metres) tall Skyscraper to be built on a plot size of 120 feet
by 216 feet. By the time the building was built they realised that it was merely
10' x 18', 40 feet tall 4-story building. The investors went to the Court but
lost their case as the judge ruled that the contract was legally binding and
investors should have read the proverbial fine print and seen the dimensions
before signing the contract, which had also included plan map giving all the
dimensions in inches.
In the 1920s, it was featured in
"Ripley's Believe It or Not!" column as "The World's Littlest Skyscraper," and
this name has stuck with it ever since.
The building is a
local tourist attraction. Being part of the Depot Square Historic District of
Wichita Falls it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
As per Wikipedia it "... stand as a monument to the
greed, graft, and gullibility of the oil boom days of North Texas".
Image from Flickr is by Chuck Coker
Source of info and more info: Wikipedia
View location in Google Earth / Google Maps and Street View
0 comments:
Post a Comment