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 Victoria Anglin

Image from Flickr is by Chuck Coker

Source of info and more info: Wikipedia

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