America is known for its many great achievements. They include sending Neil Armstrong to the Moon in 1969 and creating the economic engine that helped win World War II. But when you land a plane in the United States, you can't see these achievements because they are not tangible. You can't stand anywhere on American soil and say "this is the country that went to the moon." GK Chesterton once said: “Architecture is the alphabet of giants; it is the largest set of symbols ever created to attract the male gaze. A tower stands like a sort of simplified statue, much more than heroic in size. The one thing that is clear about America is that we are the country that transformed the architecture of the world. The skyscraper was born and raised in the United States of America. The American skyscraper can be seen everywhere from San Diego to Atlanta to Minneapolis; you can see evidence everywhere that it was the United States that designed these tall buildings. Place yourself in New York and, without trying to learn about America's bank accounts or economic situation, you can see the economic prosperity of the story. “Great buildings have captured the imagination,” prosperity, and hard work of people throughout history. Skyscrapers represent great power, hard work, and control in the United States. The skyscraper is the greatest symbol of American history. “In the 1870s, buildings rarely exceeded four stories. » It was only with the improvement of iron and steel as structurally sound materials that taller buildings became the real world. These advances in architecture allowed architects of this era to experiment. Much of the skyscraper advancement can be traced to the shocking fire that ravaged most of Chicago in 1871. City officials went from wood to wood...... middle of paper ...... source guide to the history of the United States in the 19th century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. 338. Breslin, Cynthia L., “Empire State Building Opens.” Major events in history: the twentieth century, 1901-1940. Electronic book edition. Michael Tavel Clarke, “Chapter 4: The City of Dreadful Heights: Skyscrapers and the Aesthetics of Growth,” in These Days of Large Thing, ed. (The University of Michigan Press, 2007). Montgomery Schuyler, “The Chicago Architects,” Annals of American History, 1. Schlager, Neil and Josh Lauer. “The Empire State Building: skyscraper symbol of American power.” In Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Skrabec, Quentin R.. “World’s First Skyscraper.” In The 100 most significant events in American business: an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood, 2012.