At 22 stories (302 feet) tall, when it was built in 1897, the Chicago Masonic Temple was the world's tallest structure, with an impressive Lodge room at the very top. It was so dominant a feature on the Chicago skyline, it brought the word "skyscraper" into popular use. From the top visitors claimed they could see Council Bluffs, Iowa. Built to last at least a century, wrecking crews demolished it after only 47 years. Two factors led to its demise. First, built at a time when architects did not know much about the logistics of tall buildings, several of its rooms at the top served as theaters and places for social gatherings. Unfortunately, the elevators could not handle the large crowds going to those places and the building fell out of favor as a social venue. Then, in 1939, Chicago began building the State Street subway, which ran underneath the building and would have required an expensive retrofitting of its foundation. Given that, and the fact that the social set had long since gone elsewhere, the great Chicago Masonic Temple came down.
