The Spire of the Empire State Building Was Originally a Zeppelin Docking Station

You may be familiar with the well-known image of a zeppelin berthed at the Empire State Building that surfaced on the internet a few years ago. The image is a fake, and the accompanying narrative frequently says that a docking station was originally planned but never implemented since it was deemed impracticable.

However, a mooring mast that was reportedly installed as part of a plan to make the structure taller than the Chrysler building added an additional 200 feet to the building's original height. This incident occurred in 1929. Therefore, the concept was only ever intended as a publicity hoax. Except that it only happened once.

In 1931, despite gusts of 40 miles per hour, a privately owned blimp sailed up to the mooring station and docked for three minutes. It was the first and only zeppelin to land there, proving that the spire on top of the building is indeed a docking station even if it was never used again.