Jerry Tobin, Jim Maguire,NYHISTers & NYC-Rootsers, On 02/03/2000 (8:54:10 PM EST), Jerry Tobin ([log in to unmask]) relayed to the [log in to unmask] list a posting by Jim Maguire ([log in to unmask]) originally posted to the "NYHIST [log in to unmask]", as: "I am trying to write a time line of the tallest New York City building. The first significant building was Trinity Church. But I don't know what buildings filled in the sequence until the Flatiron Building was erected. With the Flatiron Building the sequence follows; Flatiron New York Life Tower Singer Wollworth Chrysler Empire State World Trade (Tower One) Can anyone help me fill in the sequence before the Flatiron." The first skyscraper in the world and hence also in NYC (the word skyscraper comes from the tallest mast on a sailing vessel) was the Tower Building at 50 Broadway. This was the first building that replaced the traditional masonry construction, with the walls very thick at the bottom and thinner at the top, with a steel frame clad in brick. This particular building is now longer standing and the current building that has the 50 Broadway address is 3 times as wide and a lot taller. The skyscraper that held the height record until the Empire State Building is 40 Wall Street. That building is still there. There is a Museum of the Skyscraper located in the building on the north side of Wall Street, just west of its intersection with Nassau Street (Broad Street becomes Nassau Street as it crosses north over Wall Street).