TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Where Was the First Skyscraper Built in America?

But the first skyscraper in America wasn’t built in New York City.

 

Where was the first skyscraper built in America?

 

The Home Insurance Building constructed in 1884 in Chicago was the first skyscraper built in America. It had 10 stories and rose to a height of 138 feet. In 1891, two floors were added.

 

The building was demolished in 1931. A plaque in the lobby of the current building on the site says in part, the Home Insurance Building “was the first high building to utilize as the basic principle of its design the method known as skeleton construction and, being a primal influence in the acceptance of this principle was the true father of the skyscraper.”