The World’s Littlest Skyscraper is Hilarious (And a Giant Scam on the Rich)

Always read the fine print

A huge petroleum reservoir was discovered just over 100 years ago in Wichita County, Texas. Much like the Klondike Gold Rush way up north, people flooded the area, increasing the surrounding population by 20,000 seemingly overnight by 1918.

Oil men, riggers, and all sorts of would-be fortune finders headed straight to the reservoir to set up camp.

Nearby was the formerly quiet town of Wichita Falls, the seat of the spacious county. It was here the people decided would be the perfect place to set up the logistical hub to operate the oil boom.

Space was short.

Would-be oilmen filled the streets with tables, tents, and shanties to make any deal they could under the sun. And profiteering businessmen were lurking on the edges eager to find any one-up they could.

Enter J.D. McMahon, a petroleum land owner and engineer.

Building an addition

Near the main train depot of Wichita Falls was a building officially called the Newby–McMahon Building. One of its tenants, J.D. McMahon, saw the lack of office space and proposed an addition on the side of the building — an entire skyscraper!

He made his blueprints and courted several eager businessmen who had alighted upon the town to invest around $200,000 or $3.1 million in today’s equivalent to build it.

The contract and blueprint laid out plans for a building with the dimensions of ~480" tall, ~260" deep, and ~120" wide.

Given the rush to make money and the eagerness of everyone involved, the blueprints were quickly signed off on and the building was built in record time.

Why record time?

As I’m sure some of you noticed, the plans used inches (“) instead of feet (‘)!

Instead of a 44 floor building jutting out against the horizon, the newly completed building was only 40 feet tall — as the investors soon found out.

He Said, She Said

The investors promptly sued J.D. McMahon for defrauding them, but according to local hearsay, they mostly wasted their time. Why? Because J.D. never used the word “feet” in any of his communications or contracts.

By the time they discovered all this, it didn’t much matter, as J.D. had already fled town with the leftover money.

Hilariously, the building was still used.

It didn’t even have stairs built into the four-story building — they used ladders for a period of time until stairs were installed. Now they occupy a good 25% of the entire floor space.

Originally considered a huge embarrassment to the town, locals eventually grew a certain fondness for it, especially after its nickname of The World’s Littlest Skyscraper was adopted.

Since then, the building has been occupied by various shops and businesses over the years, eventually being transferred to the Wichita County Heritage Society, where they have been attempting to keep it from disrepair.

So, what does the World’s Littlest Skyscraper look like today?

Well, not so great.

And I honestly laughed when I saw how tiny it is:

Photo on Google Maps, Fair Use

Note the sign required to point out where the skyscraper is — perhaps the only one in existence in the world?

In a world where size often matters, this tiny building stands as a good reminder that sometimes, the biggest scams come in the smallest packages.

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J.J. Pryor

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