When times are tough, symbolic shows of strength can be important.

In the depths of the Great Depression in 1930, some defiant real estate developers cast aside the gloom and decided to see if they could build the Empire State Building in a year.

They laid railroad tracks directly to the construction site where 34th Street meets Fifth Avenue from the steel mills of eastern Pennsylvania. The I-beams were still warm from the furnaces when the steelworkers lifted them off the rail cars and riveted them together to form King Kong's favorite perch.

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