48 Different “First” Photos Throughout the History of Photography

Any city skyline has a skyscraper or two these days. Before 1885, these extremely tall buildings simply didn’t exist. City skylines were a lot smaller before the first skyscraper was built in Chicago between 1884 and 1885. The Home Life Insurance Building was nine stories high and 136 feet tall. 

Modern-day skyscrapers can be thousands of feet tall these days, but back in the 1800s, this was the tallest building in existence. The Home Life Insurance Building was designed by architect William LeBaron Jenney and was the first building to be entirely supported by an iron frame. Unfortunately, the world’s first skyscraper no longer exists. It was demolished in 1931.