Walking past a Ferris Wheel you may have never realized the intriguing story of how it became to be or the sad demise of the first wheel after it had served its main purpose. It was first constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. It was the largest attraction at the Exposition. It was intended as a rival for the Eiffel Tower which was built for the 1889 Paris Worlds Exposition. The Fair directors thought he was out of his mind with such an idea but finally agreed as long as he financed it with his own money. He mounted 36 enclosed cars made of glass and steel onto his wheel with 40 swivel chairs in each. Its total capacity for the entire wheel was 2,160 people. More than 1.4 million patrons paid 50 cents for a twenty minute ride that gave them a spectacular view of the fair. It performed safely and flawlessly throughout the duration of the event and returned $725,000 in revenue with an initial investment cost of $400,000. Despite seeming like a success story it didnt end so well for Ferris or for his iconic wheel. As stated from explorepahistory/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-35D the following happened after the fair. The wheel, however, brought Ferris only heartache, for he had to sue the Exposition over the wheels profits while fending off patent lawsuits. Ferris soon declared bankruptcy and lost his companies. Then his wife left him. Suffering from kidney failure and typhoid fever, George W.G. Ferris Jr. died in Pittsburgh on November 26, 1896, at the age of thirty-seven. His cremated ashes remained unclaimed for fifteen months until his brother satisfied the funeral debt. Before Ferriss death, the wheel was dismantled and reassembled near Lincoln Park for Chicagos North Clark Street Fair, where a new group of investors hoped to develop the site as a tourist attraction. Lincoln Park residents successfully campaigned to have the wheel removed, citing it as useless and undesirable industrialism. With $400,000 in new debt, the investors sold the wheel for $1,800 to a new group, which reassembled the parts as the Observation Wheel in St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, where another three million riders enjoyed Ferriss invention. Once again, after the exposition closed, local residents complained that the giant wheel was an eyesore. Ferriss monster wheel came to what the Chicago Tribune called an ignominious end on May 11, 1906, when 200 pounds of dynamite reduced the wheel to a pile of scrap metal. Yes you read that correctly! The first Ferris Wheel was blown up and demolished. What it would have been like to actually have saved and preserved it for our generation and more to come to have seen and enjoyed as well! bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893fair.html explorepahistory/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-35D
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:34:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015