The day the Empire State Building opened – level 3

01-05-1931

The construction of the Empire State Building began in 1930. It was built by 3,400 workers who were mostly poor immigrants from Europe. They worked in any weather condition and with simple tools. This extremely dangerous work was an opportunity for them to earn a decent income.

The building was constructed under great time pressure. Everyone tried to meet the deadline, which was May 1, 1931. The workers built 4 new floors every week. In the end, the deadline was met.

The building is 381 meters high and has 102 floors. It has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators. Over 60,000 tons of steel were used for the construction. At the time, it was the tallest skyscraper in the world.

Today, the building is still a symbol of New York with thousands of visitors every day. There are also offices of many companies in the building and 20,000 people work there.

Difficult words: earn (to make something such as money), decent (good enough), deadline (a day by which you have to do something), skyscraper (a very tall city building).

What do you think were the biggest challenges the construction workers faced in order to meet the deadline?

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