Breaking New Ground

January 1964: Minoru Yamasaki unveils his design for the World Trade Center, a plan originally hatched by Chase Manhattan Bank president David Rockefeller and backed by his brother, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. Because of his extreme fear of heights, Yamasaki is an odd choice for the project, but he copes with his vertigo by designing the building so that windows are no more than roughly 20 inches wide -- less than the width of his shoulders.



August 5, 1966: Ground is broken on the construction of the Twin Towers.

