Comment by PopAlongKid

For context, three of the tallest skyscrapers at the time were constructed in Chicago during roughly this same period.[0] (Originally known as the Hancock, Standard Oil, and Sears buildings, since renamed). Chicago was also the second largest U.S. city at the time, and I've often thought that the WTC construction was in part motivated by a sense of civic competition between the two cities.

"Of Chicago's five tallest buildings, three were completed within a 5-year span between 1969 and 1974."

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_C...