In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. The exposition’s organisers wanted a centrepiece attraction to rival the Eiffel Tower, which had been built for the previous 1889 Paris Exposition.

George Washington Gale Ferris Jr, a Pittsburgh-based civil engineer submitted a design for a massive wheel that initially received skepticism for its ambitious scope. Ferris’s wheel debuted on 21 June 1893. It stood 80.5m (264 feet) tall and had 36 cars, each capable of holding 60 passengers, allowing for a total capacity of 2,160 riders at once. The wheel carried some 38,000 passengers daily and took 20 minutes to complete 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 (equivalent to US$17.50 in 2024). The Ferris wheel was not only an engineering marvel but also an economic success, drawing over a million riders during the exposition.

Large rotating wheels, some with seats, existed long before Ferris's invention, dating back to 17th-century Europe and even earlier in parts of Asia. Known as “pleasure wheels”, these early designs were human-powered, with workers manually turning the wheel. This concept had inspired Ferris to build a larger, more robust wheel to be powered by steam.

He was also inspired by something closer to home. In 1892, a year prior to the Ferris wheel’s debut, William Somers installed three fifty-foot wooden wheels at Asbury Park, New Jersey; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Coney Island, New York. The following year he was granted the first US patent for a "Roundabout”. Ferris rode on Somers' wheel in Atlantic City prior to designing his wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1893 Somers filed a lawsuit against Ferris for patent infringement. However, Ferris and his lawyers successfully argued that the Ferris wheel and its technology differed greatly from Somers' wheel, and the case was dismissed.

After the Chicago fair, the Ferris wheel was disassembled and relocated several times before ultimately being scrapped in 1906. However, the popularity of the attraction inspired numerous replicas and successors worldwide. As technology advanced, larger and more elaborate Ferris wheels appeared, such as the 85-metre “Wiener Riesenrad” in Vienna (1897, and as featured in the 1949 Film The Third Man), the 135-metre “London Eye” (1999) and the 165-metre “Singapore Flyer” (2008).

Modern Ferris wheels use advanced materials, allowing for lighter, taller and safer designs. The “observation wheel”, a large Ferris wheel with enclosed cabins that rotate independently to provide panoramic views, became popular in the late 20th century and is now a common feature in major cities.

The current record holder since 2014 of a Ferris wheel for the tallest in operation is the 167.6 metre (550 feet) “High Roller” in Las Vegas, Nevada, which opened to the public in March 2014.

Story Idea: Bonnie Siegler
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References

wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel
wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Wheel_(1893)
wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Gale_Ferris_Jr
lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/george-washington-ferris
cbsnews.com/news/the-history-of-ferris-wheels

Images

1. The first Ferris wheel, in Chicago, 1893
2. 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition poster
3. Portrait of George Washington Ferris photograph, circa 1893. Credit: Chicago History Museum
4. Ferris wheel in Chicago, 1893
5. Dancing the hora on Dealul Spirii (Spirii Hill), Bucharest, Romania (1857 lithograph)
6. 17th century Turkish designed pleasure wheel for adults
7. William Somers' Wheel, 1892
8. Poster for The Third Man, 1949
9. "London Eye" Ferris wheel, 1999
10. The "Singapore Flyer" in Singapore, 2008
11. Viewing cabins of "High Roller" in Las Vegas, Nevada
12. "Dream Wheel", Santa Cruz, 2024
13. "Wheel of the Pioneers" at Leolandia Park in Veneto, Italy