What would you think if I said, “Meet me by the Ferris Wheel”?
My friend Lloyd asked me this recently and I replied, “I guess the London Eye, though I wouldn’t call it the Ferris Wheel, I’d just call it the London Eye.”
But that short exchange got me thinking about Ferris Wheels, about fairs and carnivals, and the wheels I’d seen from Indiana to Asia.
And then I saw the new Elvis film — which includes a key scene on a Ferris Wheel.
And that got me thinking…
How long have Ferris Wheels been around — and how did they even come to be?
I was curious…
“Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”
That was the directive from Daniel Burnham in 1891.
Burnham was the architect responsible for turning a square mile of Chicago into a worldwide sensation for the World’s Fair – the Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Many cities had competed to host the Fair – and the expectations on Chicago were high.
Two years earlier, the Eiffel Tower had stunned the world when it was the highlight of the 1889 World Exhibition.
The pressure was on Burnham to come up with something that would rival the Eiffel Tower.
He told engineers they needed to come up with ‘something novel, original, daring and unique.’
And a 33-year-old engineer from Pittsburgh named George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. had an idea.
Ferris owned a company that tested iron and steel for railroads and bridges, and used his knowledge of steel structure to create a design for a huge revolving steel wheel.
Burnham balked, saying the wheel Ferris proposed would be ‘too fragile.’
But Ferris carried on.
He believed in his idea – and he bet on himself.
Ferris invested $25,000 of his money to develop the plans and specifications before presenting the idea to the exposition board.
The exposition’s board were impressed with Ferris’s creative idea – but many engineers said the wheel Ferris proposed just wasn’t possible.
The Board told Ferris he had their support – if he could raise $250,000 to construct the wheel.
Passionate and determined, Ferris managed to secure the investment he needed to bring his idea to life.
It was a massive undertaking – as Ferris had only 22 weeks to build his wheel (whereas Gustave Eiffel had two years to build his tower).
Ferris promised that his Wheel would “Out-Eiffel Eiffel.”
Although Ferris’s wheel wouldn’t be as tall as the Eiffel Tower, it would rotate in a circle – offering a more exciting aerial observation.
The Wheel was massive. It was 250 feet in diameter and carried 36 cars, which each held 60 people.
More than 100,000 components were transported to Chicago on 150 rail cars, and Ferris’s “Monster” was assembled during the freezing Chicago winter in early 1893.
Two 144-foot steel towers supported the Wheel, anchored into 50 feet of concrete. As workers pieced the wheel into place, they were unsure if the structure would stand – or actually rotate.
On June 9, 1893, the wheel was partially assembled and the crew tested if it would turn.
It did – and the construction of the wheel was completed less than 2 weeks later.
On June 21, Ferris blew a golden whistle to start the two 1,000-horsepower engines.
The wheel began to turn – and it continued to turn for 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Ferris’s Wheel was a huge success – creatively and financially.
More than 1.4 million people paid 50 cents for a 20-minute ride in the “Chicago Wheel” over 19 weeks of the World’s Fair. For many, the 264-foot Wheel was the tallest thing they’d ever seen.
In addition to offering incredible views of Chicago and Lake Michigan, it also showcased the wonder of electricity, when it was lit up by 3000 of Thomas Edison’s new light bulbs.
It was one of the most complicated engineering feats of that century, and a huge win for the Chicago Exhibition and Ferris.
But here’s where our story takes a sad turn…
After the Exposition finished, financial trouble overtook Ferris’s life.
The exposition received the majority of the wheel's profits, while Ferris was forced to use his profits to pay off investors.
Ferris claimed that the exhibition management had robbed him and his investors of their portion of the nearly $750,000 profit that his wheel brought in.
He spent the next two years in litigation – and could not cover his debts.
He lost his home.
His wife left him.
And in 1896, he was bankrupt and suffering from typhoid fever, a disease The New York Times reported was brought on ‘through worry over numerous business matters.’
Ferris died on November 22, 1896, at age 37.
Fifteen months after he died, The New York Times reported that Ferris’s ashes were being held by an undertaker in Pittsburgh ‘pending the payment of funeral expenses.’
His original Ferris Wheel was relocated in Chicago in 1895 and then sold to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
Two years later, after carrying 2.5 million passengers, the wheel was turned into scrap.
Although Ferris’s life story ended on a sad note, his legacy lives on.
His innovation has brought joy to amusement seekers around the world for more than a century.
His “Chicago Wheel” inspired architects and engineers to dream big.
Just two years after Ferris completed his wheel, the taller 308-foot “Great Wheel” debuted in London. It was the tallest in the world for just five years, surpassed by France’s 315-foot “Grande Roue de Paris.”
But the records don’t last long – and Ferris wheels are still getting bigger.
The 443-foot London Eye (also known as the Millennium Wheel) was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel when it opened to the public in 2000.
It now ranks as #6.
The 550-foot tall High Roller in Las Vegas held the record until 2021, when it was surpassed by the 820-foot tall Ain Dubai in the UAE.
FUN FACT: Interestingly, Ferris’s wheel was not the first of its kind.
William Somers came up with the idea of a moving wheel in the winter of 1888. He called it the ‘Observational Roundabout’ and built a 50-foot wooden wheel in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1891. Somers later sued Ferris for copyright infringement, but Ferris and his lawyers successfully argued that Ferris’s wheel was vastly different than the wheel Somers had created.
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How Can I Help?
I’ll keep saying it: Communication matters.
And good news, friends… If you want to improve your communication (and get all the good things that come with that), I’m your gal.
So many companies could reap so benefits – from performance and culture to retention and engagement – by improving their communication.
So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
You can also see my Top 10 list of what I can (and can’t) do for you here.
And if you see any communication examples (the good, the bad, and the ugly) that you think are worth analyzing or sharing, please send them my way!
Stay Curious!
-Beth