Worlds smallest skyscraper
Not everythings bigger in Texas. Petroleum landman, structural engineer and aspiring con artist J.D. McMahon decided shortly after the 1912 oil boom that the offices in the one-story Newby building needed more space. So, he convinced investors to fund $200,000 (nearly $3 million in 2017) for a highrise annex that they wrongfully assumed would be 480 feet high. Unfortunately for them, McMahon actually wrote 480, not 480, and the sleight of pen held up in court. Construction was finished in 1919, and McMahon skipped town a wiser and richer man. Currently, this monument of gullibility houses an antique shop that, however quaint, is most likely not worth $3 million.
701 La Salle, Wichita Falls, TX
Photo via
plindarose