The story of the first Ferris wheel is its own exciting ride
The first World's Fair took place in 1851, called The Great Exhibition of 1851. This fair took place in London and was created by Prince Albert. The World’s Fair then became a tradition every few years (which eventually became every four years). Part of that tradition included the host city trying to one up the previous fair by building something amazing as a showcase.
In 1889, an architect named Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was commissioned to erect a large tower for the Paris World’s Fair. It was wildly popular and, of course, still stands today as the Eiffel Tower.
The next World’s Fair was set to take place in Chicago in 1893. Planning began in 1891, and the director called together a banquet to solicit ideas for the grand centerpiece that would outdo all others.
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Alexandre Eiffel offered to build another giant tower — even larger than the one in Paris. However, the committee wanted the centerpiece to be from “the result of American genius.”
American engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. had an idea to build a “gargantuan Ezekiel’s Wheel” for the fair, and he sketched the design on a napkin while at dinner with other engineers. They all thought he was crazy and that it could never support itself.
The skepticism did not deter Ferris and he spent $25,000 (a huge amount back then) of his own money to have an official set of blueprints made. He presented his idea and blueprints to the World’s Fair committee and the majority of them accepted his idea.
There was one catch. He was required to pay for all the construction himself. Undeterred again, he formed a company, attracted investors and got to work.
Ferris’ wheel was 264 feet high and powered by two 1,000-horsepower engines that Ferris also designed and built. The wheel held 36 cars, each the size of a train car and the attraction was able to hold a total of 2,160 passengers at a time. By the time the structure was complete, it came with a price tag of $400,000.
The big debut
Despite all of the concerns, Ferris built a giant amusement wheel that worked perfectly for the entire World’s Fair. Not only was it safe, it was also incredibly popular.
Over the next five months, 1.4 million people rode the giant wheel to get a bird’s-eye view of the fair. The cost for the 20 minute ride was 50 cents, the same price to get into the fair itself. The investment paid off — $725,000 in sales were collected. By all measures, Ferris’ idea of a giant wheel was a success.
Earlier wheels
While Ferris created the largest amusement ride wheel at the time, he did not actually invent the initial idea.
While growing up, he was fascinated with “pleasure wheels.” A pleasure wheel was a small wooden vertical wheel that held four chairs and was powered by men turning cranks or pulling ropes. They were invented 200 years before the Ferris Wheel.
In 1892, William Somers created several 50-foot-tall wooden amusement wheels, one of which was installed at Coney Island. Somers would eventually sue Ferris for copying his design, but the case was dismissed because Ferris’ design and operation was much different from Somers'.
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Not always fun
As delighted as Ferris should have been, things never seemed to be easy for him. First, there was a dispute on who would get the profits from the ride, so he had to go to court.
He then had to fight off lawsuits from others that had similar ideas. After all that fighting, Ferris was now in debt and he closed all of his companies.
Things got worse. He suffered from kidney failure, then typhoid fever, and died in 1896 at just 37. His remains were cremated, but because he had no money in his accounts, the funeral home would not release his ashes until finally Ferris’ brother came and paid the bill 15 months later.
The original Ferris wheel was dismantled and rebuilt in a different part of Chicago, then was dismantled again and sent to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis where several million riders enjoyed it. Not knowing what to do with it, the giant wheel was blown up on May 11, 1906.
While Ferris only got to realize a small portion of his success, hopefully he would be happy knowing that, because of his creativity, passion and determination, millions upon millions of kids and adults have been riding giant wheels with his name on them ever since.
Mike Szydlowski is science coordinator for Columbia Public Schools.
TIME FOR A POP QUIZ
1. Why did Ferris have his name associated with the wheels even though the wheel concept was already out there?
2. How much profit did Ferris’ wheel earn during the World’s Fair?
3. How many people could each Ferris wheel car hold at the World’s Fair?
4. How did pleasure wheels operate when they were before electricity was invented?
5. Do some research. How tall is the current tallest Ferris wheel? Where is it located?
LAST WEEK’S POP QUIZ ANSWERS
1. Why does the northern part of Missouri look different than the southern part?
The northern part of Missouri was flattened and shaped by the last ice age.
2. Why did black bears leave Missouri?
The original black bears in Missouri were taken out by hunters and the development of land they lived on.
3. Why might a black bear from California look different than a black bear from Tennessee?
The last ice age isolated different groups of black bears for many years and this allowed the groups to evolve slightly different from each other.
4. How did scientists figure out that the original Missouri black bears were not completely wiped out?
Scientists found DNA from the original Missouri bear population mixed in with current bear populations.
5. Give two reasons why you think there are more black bears in southern Missouri than northern Missouri.
First, the current black bear population in Missouri is mostly from Arkansas. Second, there are many more forests and natural land in southern Missouri.