U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for May 1: Raising the Roof

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

RAISING THE ROOF

Profile America — Sunday, May 1st. Construction began on this date in 1884 in Chicago for a radical new building design — destined to be America's first skyscraper. It was the Home Insurance Company headquarters, designed by engineer William Jenney. For many centuries, thick outer walls supported multistory buildings, limiting the height that could be safely or usefully attained. Jenney's building used a metal frame for support, like a skeleton. The exterior walls were attached to the frame, and so these so-called curtain walls weren't load bearing. Soon, skyscrapers using Jenney's method thrust up across the country and today dominate city skylines around the world. Lately, the construction industry in the U.S. has erected some $400 billion worth of private nonresidential buildings annually. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 2098Architect and practices/accessed 3/18/2016: http://www.wbez.org/blog/john-r-schmidt/2012-03-01/worlds-first-skyscraper-96741 Seasonally adjusted value of construction:        http://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/release.pdf

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov  (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau