CN Tower Celebrates A High Point At Age 30

It’s the CN Tower, which officially celebrated its 30th birthday on Monday. It marks the day when the world’s tallest free standing structure was first officially opened.

But in truth parts of the Tower were around a lot longer than that. Construction started in the early 70s and took more than six years of work to finish. It opened on June 26, 1976, and has become the enduring symbol of the city around the world ever since.
 
To celebrate the finishing touch – the antenna that crowns the top of the Tower – a replica of the helicopter (nicknamed Olga) that secured it to the tip briefly hovered overhead in a ceremony on Sunday. That chopper sat at the base of the Tower on Monday as tourists and locals both celebrated the milestone.

“It seems like yesterday to me that I was here,” remembers Larry Pravacek. But he’s not just your average tourist looking up. In fact, he’s one of the few who looked down on the Tower.

He’s the chopper pilot who put the final piece of the structure in place three decades ago.

“We were very high, and you had such a small pinpoint thing to land on,” he recalls. “And when you’re so high up, it’s hard to focus on that little tiny point  that you were aiming at.”

But it’s obvious he was right on.

Those who’ve come since remain in awe of his accomplishment.

“Just awesome. It’s huge. It’s beautiful. The glass ceiling is awesome,” gushes Bikram Coelho. “I always bring all my relatives over here to have a look at it.”

“I think it’s a landmark in Toronto and I think it’s something that represents the downtown core of Toronto and everyone comes to see it,” points out Tamara Schmelzle.

“It’s a beautiful tower in construction,” agrees local Ron McLennan. “The making of it was quite unique, and I think it still stands up to the test of time.

But the sad truth is that many Toronto residents still haven’t been to the top of their status symbol, and officials are hoping you’ll use the birthday bash to correct that oversight. 
 
The 15 Things You Never Knew About The CN Tower

• Who says lightning never strikes twice? The CN Tower is hit by a bolt from the blue an average of 78 times a year. 
• Hold on to your stomach! It takes between 58 and 61 seconds to go from the bottom to the top by elevator, an average of about 22 kilometres an hour. 
•  Don’t worry about falling. The famous Glass Floor on the indoor observation deck can withstand a weight of 600 lbs. per square inch – or roughly 14 adult hippopotami. 
•  The Tower is supposed to be able to withstand an earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter Scale. Let’s hope they never have to put that to the test. 
•  It can also survive the worst hurricane, being able to remain standing in a gale blowing 420 kilometres an hour. 
•  The cement needed to build the structure would be enough for a sidewalk that stretches from here to Kingston. 
•  The stairwell originally consisted of 1,760 steps and is the tallest such set of metal stairs in the world. A city firefighter made it all the way to the top in a record 7 minutes 52 seconds on October 29, 1989.
• When the Tower was slightly redesigned in 1996, more stairs were added. They now number 2,579.
• It’s been the scene of silly stunts, including Ashrita Furman’s July 23, 1999 successful bid to “climb” the Tower stairs on a pogo stick, and the equally victorious attempt by two men to haul a 440 lbs. piano up the stairway. It took them 7.5 hours, but they made it.
• It took 1,537 workers toiling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 40 months to complete the construction on time. No word on the overtime bill.
• There are many towers that actually dwarf Toronto’s landmark, but they have guy wires attached to them, making the CN Tower the largest free standing structure in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
• The Petronius Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico is actually higher than the CN Tower’s 1,815 feet, 5 inches, but because all but its tip is underwater, its 2,116 feet doesn’t make the grade.
• Stuntman Dar Robinson jumped off the Tower twice, once in 1979 for the film “Highpoint” and again for the TV show “That’s Incredible”.
• A time capsule containing a letter from then P.M. Pierre Trudeau, copies of three Toronto daily newspapers and a collection of Canadian bills and coins is “buried” inside the walls of the Tower on the Lookout level. It won’t be opened until 2076.
• The Tower is the only Canadian landmark that appears in the video games SimCity4 and SimCity 3000.