decades passed the city's new buildings towered higher and higher trying to outdo each other and down to other cities the 1st highrise was built in 1905 it had 10 stories in 889 the 1st skyscraper with a steel skeleton structure was built a decade later the tallest building soared 100 meters 10 years after that double that i. in 1931 the gnowledge and dairy empire state building topped out at 381 meters it held the world record for more than 40 years until the limitations of steel framed buildings were overcome.