My Whole Family's positive view of the world. » books for kids http://www.mywholefamily.com/mwfblog Positive articles and conversations for families of all kinds. Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:27:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Empire State Building a vidid part of the Wicks’ family history. http://www.mywholefamily.com/mwfblog/2010/02/15/empire-state-building-a-vidid-part-of-the-wicks-family-history/ http://www.mywholefamily.com/mwfblog/2010/02/15/empire-state-building-a-vidid-part-of-the-wicks-family-history/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:37:57 +0000 Marcy McCann http://www.mywholefamily.com/mwfblog/?p=592 Continue reading →]]> Although you won’t find his name listed as a member of the construction team, my grandfather Edward Wicks did in fact help build the 1,252 – foot Empire State Building. I have photos to prove it as they say. When I was very young I was shown a photo that looks so much like the one on the back of the book I own that was edited by Carol Willis that I could swear one of those guys is my grandfather. My father Doug Wicks Sr. said “No.” when I asked him to ID the man so I have to trust his judgement. BUT on the other hand my sassy self says “It looks like him to me.”

From what I recall grandpa was a metal worker who installed bronze on the windows and even on the top of the building. There was some sort of difference of opinion between my grandfather and his employer so somehow his name was omitted from the list. That is family lore that I would love to verify. My uncle Ted Wicks worked high up on the building for about one day as I recall. I’ve seen that photo too. They we standing on the girders at who knows how high. Very high!

About 10 years ago, I went on a quest for more information and found a great book that lists every detail of the daily operation. How many pounds of this or that. How many windows, how many doors. How many trucks of concrete were poured each day. These are typed construction notes that were lost for decades. They would make great resource material for an architectural student even today.

The managers of the project even installed a commissary so that the laborers did not waste time leaving the site. It was if not the first, it was one of the first of its kind. The project is incredibly interesting considering they removed the Victorian era Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and completed construction all within an extraordinarily short time frame. Today we take almost that long to do the site prep work for a single family home. OK that is a slight exaggeration but still relatively speaking there are few projects that compare. The elaborate organization it took to build the Empire State Building was very well orchestrated.

So check out the book with the bright red cover or any of the many others that describe this feat in building the world’s first sky scraper.

Don’t forget to visit MyWholeFamily.com for children’s books. We have a few that we know you child will enjoy. Learn more about your families history by searching online.

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