AIN’T SHE PRETTY! World Trade Center is topped by U.S. flag-covered spire
Adorned with an American flag that flapped in the breeze, the last pieces of a silver spire were hoisted to the top of the World Trade Center on Thursday as construction workers cheered its ascent.
The final two segments of the 408-foot spire will rest on a construction platform for several weeks until the entire needle is permanently installed. With the spire as its crown, the trade center will soar to a symbolic 1,776 feet in the air — a reference to the birth of the nation in 1776.
Sunlight glinted off the slender steel structure as it rose slowly into the blue sky. Construction workers inside the building clustered around unfinished floor ledges to get a better glimpse of it.