|
A World Trade Center
The idea of a World Trade Center first appeared in the late 1950s for a site on the East River. Promoted by the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA), a powerful organization of business interests led by David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan Bank, the World Trade complex was to centralize the many aspects of shipping and merchandising of imports and exports and thus to bolster the declining fortunes of the Port of New York. With the endorsement of City Hall, the DLMA enlisted the Port of New York Authority, as the bi-state agency was then known, as the best potential developer for a "World Trade and Financial Center." In March 1961, the Port Authority issued a report favoring the plan. The project conformed only obliquely to their basic mission which, when established in 1921, was to improve terminals in the port and related transportation facilities. At the time, though, the Port Authority was flush with the revenues of the bridges, tunnels, and regional airports. The City reluctantly agreed to allow the Port Authority to become the owner and developer of the World Trade complex, ceding both control over the land and the annual property-tax revenues. The images to the right are taken from the document "World Trade Center; A Proposal for the Port of New York". |
