History: Streets Of New York City, 1974, United States

A rare highlight was the opening of the mammoth World Trade Center complex in 1972. Conceived by David Rockefeller and built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the site of the Radio Row electronics district in Lower Manhattan, the Twin Towers briefly displaced the Empire State Building in Midtown as the world's tallest before being displaced in turn by Chicago's Sears Tower in 1973.
However, the financial crisis, high crime rates, and damage from the blackouts led to a widespread belief that New York City was in irreversible decline. Many white middle class families moved to the city's suburbs and to other economically healthier locales. By the end of the 1970s, nearly a million people had left, a population loss not recovered for another twenty years. The more fiscally conservative Ed Koch was elected as mayor in 1977.