Skyscrapers are the Solution!
49 years ago, our nation built our first skyscraper. Now more skyscrapers are being built in populated cities. These skyscrapers are our solution to crowded cities because they give the cities more room to live and work. In order to build a skyscraper, there must be a lot of steel. Henry Bessemer invented the process of mass producing steel. An American, William Kelly, had held a patent for "a system of air blowing the carbon out of pig iron. Bankruptcy forced Kelly to sell his patent to Henry Bessemer, who had been working on a similar process for making steel. The process was essential to create skyscrapers. I think without this process, skyscrapers wouldn’t be built right now because steel was very expensive to produce before this process was invented. By the turn of the nineteenth century, many cities were getting crowded such as Chicago and New York. Everybody wanted to live, work, or build their company in the middle of the city so many architects finally decided that expanding crowded cities was not the solution to create more space; the solution was to build up. I think skyscrapers were the “adaptation” to lack of space in crowded cities. By the 1870s , Chicago had become the main financial center for the West, but in October 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the main wooden part of the city, an area often associated with crime. In the aftermath, the United States flowed in to rebuild the city in a more exclusive fashion. I think the city did not want a lot of wooden houses because wood burns. Together, these factors encouraged the building of taller properties in new innovative designs, which, like New York, saw a range of businesses and services being packed into single buildings. William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer built the first skyscraper the man who is credited with the invention of the skyscraper is George A. Fuller (1851-1900). There is a big debate about this because William Le Baron Jenney built the first skyscraper but he did not design it so that the outside walls didn’t carry all the weight which is why skyscrapers can be built so high. The skyscraper is defined as a “really tall building”. I think George A. Fuller should be credited with the invention of the skyscraper because George A. Fuller built the Tacoma Building in 1889, the first structure ever built where the outside walls did not carrying the weight of the building and a skyscraper can have great height because the outside walls do not carrying the weight of the building. Skyscrapers are definitely a good tool to combat against lack of space. I strongly support skyscrapers and hope that everybody realizes it’s potential.