Ferris Wheel (1893)

Before the Ferris wheel, the Eiffel tower stood as a new centerpiece in Paris and an idea that was thought to be needed in the States. Gustave Eiffel himself amongst other inventors had many ideas as to how they could bring this tower over to the states, but ultimately, Daniel Burnham thought up the idea of a monumental wheel. When he presented his ideas to a team of metal workers – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. and his team – he thought the idea to be unsafe and unable to be done. Ferris kept on with the wheel ideas and proposed a bigger and taller tower, to stand as its own centerpiece at the World's Columbian Exposition. Once Burnham was off the project, Ferris's team brought the project to life and was able to give this new attraction to 1.4 million people in June of 1893. ==Design and construction==

The Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by Ferris, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bridge-builder. Ferris began his career in the railroad industry before pursuing an interest in bridge building. He understood the growing need for structural steel and founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders. The wheel was constructed in Jackson Park during the winter of 1892–93. To create a foundation for the wheel, dynamite was used to break through three feet of frozen ground. Piles of timber were driven thirty-two feet into the ground, on top of which was laid a grillage of steel that was then filled with concrete. Jets of steam were used by workers to thaw dirt and prevent the poured concrete from freezing. With the foundation in place, the wheel was then constructed. The completed wheel rotated on a 71-ton, axle that was at that time the world's largest hollow forging. It was manufactured in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company and weighed , together with two cast-iron spiders weighing . There were 36 passenger cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160. Ferris modeled his invention after the structural principles of a waterwheel near his childhood home in Nevada and modeled after the structural principles of a bicycle wheel. The Ferris wheel was supported by an enormous axle and powered by a one-thousand-horsepower steam engine. Correspondents made repeated requests for drawings and information, but Ferris would not release the details. As a consequence, no copies of the original plans or calculations have survived. Both Ferris and his associate W. F. Gronau also recognized the engineering marvel the wheel represented, as a giant wheel that would turn slowly and smoothly without structural failure had never before been attempted. For its inaugural run, no cars had yet been attached. The workmen however, climbed the structure and settled themselves on the spokes to the accompaniment of cheers from an audience of fair employees who had gathered to watch the momentous event. After the wheel had completed its first rotation, Gronau deemed the test a success. "I could have yelled out loud for joy". The wheel was erected at a cost of $385,000. ==Operation==

The Ferris Wheel took 20 minutes to make two revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50 cents (). The Ferris Wheel first opened to the public as the centerpiece of the World's Columbian Exposition at Midway Plaisance in Chicago on June 21, 1893, and continued to operate there until after the exposition ended in October 1893. Almost 1.5 million paid to ride on the wheel, generating a profit of $395,000. ==After the Columbian Exposition==

'' (1896), Lumière Brothers catalog no. 338) , looking north from Wrightwood Avenue The wheel itself closed in April 1894 and was then dismantled and stored until the following year, when it was rebuilt in the Lincoln Park, Chicago, neighborhood. The amusement park was located at 2619 to 2665 N. Clark, which is now the location of a McDonald's and a high-rise residential building. The original plan was to include a beer garden and vaudeville show, but the liquor license was not granted.) at the intersection of Wrightwood and Clark that included the Ferris Wheel. It is one of the first films of Chicago. The wheel operated at Clark St. from October 1895 until 1903, when it was purchased at auction by the Chicago House Wrecking Company (CHWC) for $8,150 (). It was then dismantled for a second time and transported by rail to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair, where it earned the CHWC about $215,000 (). ==Demolition and disposition==

After the 1904 World's Fair closed on December 1, 1904, no purchasers were found who would pay for the relocation of the great Ferris Wheel, despite many efforts. It was finally destroyed by controlled demolition using dynamite on May 11, 1906 (18 months after the fair closed), to be sold for scrap. This was necessary because the contract with the city of St. Louis required the "restoration of Forest Park." In 2007, a magnetic survey using a cesium magnetometer several unpublished CHWC letters and documents, an article by Leo Harris (grandson of the CHWC's Treasurer) who wrote that "...the giant axle of the wheel was returned to the yards of the CHWC, where it remained until it was cut up for its steel content at the beginning of World War I", and an article published on February 1, 1907, in the Clinton (IL) Register, indicating, "The last of the Ferris Wheel has been taken away... It was found necessary to blow off the flanges from the axle ... before it could be loaded on a (railroad) car". == Lasting legacy ==

showing the Ferris Wheel at the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis Although the original Ferris Wheel was demolished, a new wheel lives on in Chicago at Navy Pier, with structural similarities and inspiration from Ferris's original wheel. Similar to the Chicago wheel, this Ferris wheel gives participants a 10- to 20-minute ride in an enclosed cart at a similar height to the original. The original Chicago Navy Pier Ferris Wheel was modeled off of the Chicago Ferris Wheel and set on July 1, 1995, with 40 cars fitting six passengers in each one. The now Centennial wheel has enclosed cars at an elevated height closer to the original Chicago Wheel. ==Coordinates==

• 1893–1894 – Midway Plaisance, Chicago:   • 1895–1903 – Lincoln Park, Chicago: • 1904–1906 – St. Louis:   ==In popular culture==

• The characters of the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, attending the 1904 World's Fair, observe the Ferris Wheel and foreshadow its eventual demolition. • The hero of Robert Lawson's 1957 children's book The Great Wheel is part of the construction crew for the original Chicago Ferris Wheel. • The back cover of the CD of My Chemical Romance’s 2002 album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, features a distorted image of the Ferris Wheel. • The 2014 picture book, Mr. Ferris and His Wheel, tells of its creation. • The 2023 episode "1893", of the series Loki, depicts the wheel in Chicago in a lengthy scene inside one of the carriages. ==References==