John Delach

Part One: The Origin of the WTC

John Delach

Revised September 2026 and originally published: October 2001

I found it hard to accept the destruction of the World Trade Center. The towers, plaza and the surrounding buildings had been so much a part of my life.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Robert Moses and Austin Tobin competed to control the destiny of New York City. Moses, behind his plethora of commissionerships and in the guise of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, shaped the way we lived and travelled. He chased the Brooklyn Dodgers to the West Coast, ravaged the Bronx and Brooklyn constructing his holy expressways, and built his most magnificent jewel; The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Tobin, Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, refused to be outdone. Not content with controlling interstate bridges and tunnels, the docks and piers and three airports, he sought a monument to himself and his agency. He had two powerful allies, David and Nelson Rockefeller, to help him achieve his goal. David was Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and Nelson was Governor of New York. They both advocated a trade center and Tobin chomped at the bit to have his Port Authority build, own and manage it.

As early as 1958, the Rockefeller/Tobin alliance started to push the project through the layers of red tape and special interest. Opposed were the private master builders, developers and the real estate lobby. Moses was joined by the Tishmans, Trumps, and Helmsleys, to name a few, who used their considerable influence to stop the Port Authority and keep major construction projects in the private sector. However, the 1960s brought an unprecedented building boom to New York City. It seemed new buildings were rising daily both in downtown and mid-town Manhattan. The creation of the New York World’s Fair and Lincoln Center added to this magnitude of activity. Builders were glutted with work with no end in sight.

The time was right for Tobin and the Rockefellers to proceed with their grand plan. However, one voice still objected, New Jersey. The Port Authority, a bi-state agency, also answered to the Governor of New Jersey, at that time, Richard Hughes. If he voted against this project, that would kill it. What was in it for New Jersey? Not much, and the financing would deter other projects in that state. A deal was needed and Rockefeller’s staff found it. The ailing Pennsylvania Railroad operated the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes between Newark and 33^rd Street in Midtown and the Hudson Terminal in Downtown.

Interestingly enough, The Hudson Terminal buildings were almost in the center of the proposed site for The World Trade Center and were scheduled for demolition.

Governor Rockefeller proposed The Port Authority purchase, upgrade and operate the “Tubes”. The Governor of New Jersey thought this was a swell idea and agreed to sign off on the WTC.

“Just one minute!” Austin Tobin objected. Historically, the Port Authority had resisted being dragged into operating rail lines their greatest fear being forced to take over the New York City Subway System. Rockefeller explained to him; “no Tubes, no World Trade Center” and, as if by magic, the Port Authority Trans Hudson, or PATH was born. However, in the enabling legislation, Tobin insisted a clause be included stating that the Port Authority, in perpetuity, could never again be ordered to operate a mass transit system. Sic transit sic gloria.

A Chicago based architectural firm; Yamaski was awarded the World Trade Center design work. Tobin would have his monument and he wanted it to be special. “Have two towers built, build them to be the tallest in the world, not one, but two.” The original plan for two 80-to 90-story buildings was scrapped. The Empire State Building, finished in 1931, stood 108 floors high and, including its television mast, reached 1,250 feet. Tobin’s towers would rise 110 floors and be 100 feet higher.

I was a young cargo surveyor during the towers’ construction. My job was to go out to piers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey to inspect goods that arrived damaged carrying a camera to record my findings. My home office was 15 Park Row and, when I exited the building, my view south was of Saint Paul’s Church and the North Tower rising behind it. I used my camera often to photograph its ascension. Yamaski needed to innovate to make construction possible. The cranes had to be self-elevating and able to lift large sections of steel because the outer walls, together with the core were the only supports. Called, “the Shecketon System,” it relied on high tensile strength steel walls for support without internal columns. On reaching the 30th floor, ironworkers wrote the floor number on corner members of this bare steel. They repeated this each time they completed another ten floors. After the 70^th floor, every fifth floor and, at ninety, they marked each one individually.

When the towers were completed, they were not well received and a joke began to make its rounds that the buildings looked like the two boxes that were used to ship the Empire State Building and the Crysler Building.  

(To be continued)