This chief wonder of the Fair was designed by George Washington Gale Ferris. At a Saturday afternoon club dinner, in a city chop-house, while the Fair was building, Mr. Ferris conceived the idea of the wheel. During that dinner, he decided on the size, the construction, the number of cars at thirty-six, the number of seats in each car, the admission fee, the plan of stopping six times in the first revolution to load and another revolution without stopping, and these details, as then instantly recorded on paper, were never altered.
Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1893
Abstract in Scientific American, July 1, 1893
“What on earth is that?” This is the astonished inquiry that every passenger on the Illinois Central, the “L,” and the steamboat lines on the lake makes as soon as he gets his first sight of the Ferris Wheel. And he asks it afar off, for the wheel is the landmark of the Fair.
His inquiry should be, “What in the air is that?” for if there is anything on or near the Exposition grounds besides the captive balloon that is not on the earth it is the Ferris Wheel. At first it looks as the great trusses of the Manufactures Building used to look before the roof was on. But, as it towers higher and is seen to be circular instead of semicircular, the spectator can form no idea what it is until he is told. It is beyond all question the crowning novelty of the Exposition as the Eiffel tower was of the Paris Exposition. To that it is superior in some respects, for it has the element of motion instead of being an inert mass, and presents engineering difficulties with which man never before grappled.
When was made the first wheel similar to this in construction, in a general way, and for amusement purposes, no one knows. The idea is an old one. But the gigantic toy on the Midway Plaisance was born two years ago in the mind of George W. G. Ferris, a 36-year-old Pittsburg engineer, the head of the firm of G. W. G. Ferris & Co. and the firm of Ferris, Kaufman & Co. in that city. He was so confident that he had a bonanza that, while he proceeded at once to prepare the plans, he did not broach the subject to any one until eighteen months ago.
His first confidants were a number of other engineers, who, when he had submitted his plans, were greatly divided as to the feasibility of the project. Some of them thought that the wheel could be built and would be a money-maker, while others were free to say that they did not believe it could ever be made either to revolve or to pay.
Getting a Concession.
Mr. Ferris, however, was a self-reliant man, and withal a financial hustler, and he went straight forward and organized the Ferris Wheel company, which was capitalized at $600,000, and soon issued and sold $300,000 worth of bonds. He then went before the Ways and Means committee of the Exposition with his scheme, and very naturally got sat down upon with great vehemence. After months of urging he succeeded in obtaining a concession, which, however, was afterward revoked. Still Mr. Ferris was not discouraged, but renewed his efforts and finally secured another concession. This was not granted until last December, and the terms were that the company was to pay the Exposition one-half of all its receipts after they had amounted to the cost of the wheel. Every particle of the work has been contracted for and done since then. The iron of which the wheel is composed was pig-iron in January, and the scaffolding was not begun until March 20.
The site assigned the company is in the middle of the plaisance, leaving a passageway fifty-five feet wide on each side of it. The space is 150 feet square, on the west side of Lexington avenue, if extended through the plaisance, with an annex 120×70 feet on the remove-surplus center of the west side. The great wheel is 250 feet in diameter, 825 feet in circumference, and thirty feet in width. As it is elevated fifteen feet above the ground a spectator on the top of it will look out upon the landscape at an elevation of 265 feet.
How the Wheel Is Made.
The wheel is composed of two wheels of the same size, connected and held together with rods and struts, which, however, do not approach closer than twenty feet to the periphery. Each wheel has for its outline a curved, hollow, square iron beam, 25½ X 19 inches. At a distance of 40 feet within this circle is another circle of a lighter beam. These beams are called crowns, and are connected and held together by an elaborate trusswork. Within this smaller circle there are no beams, and at a distance there appears to be nothing. But at the center of the great wheel is an immense iron axle, 32 inches thick and 45 feet in length Each of the twin wheels, where the axle passes through it, is provided with a large iron hub, 16 feet in diameter. Between these hubs and the inner “crowns” there are no connections except spoke rods, 2½ inches in diameter, arranged in pairs, 13 feet apart at the crown connection. At a distance they look like mere spider webs, and the wheel seems to be dangerously devoid of substantial support.
The explanation of this is that the Ferris wheel—at least inside the smaller crowns—is constituted on the principle of a bicycle wheel. The lower half is suspended from the axle by the spoke rods running downward, and the upper half of the wheel is supported by the lower half. All the spoke rods running from the axle north, when it is in any given position, might be removed, and the wheel would be as solid as it would be with them. The only difference is that the Ferris wheel hangs by its axle, while a bicycle wheel rests on the ground, and the weight is applied downward on the axle.
How Passengers Are Carried.
The great wheel has thirty-six carriages for passengers hung on its periphery at equal intervals. Each car is twenty-seven feet long, thirteen feet wide, and nine feet high. It has a heavy frame of iron, but is covered externally with wood. It has a door and five broad plate glass windows on each side. It contains forty revolving chairs, made of wire and screwed to the floor. It weighs thirteen tons, and with its forty passengers will weigh three tons more. It is suspended from the periphery of the wheel by an iron axle six and one-half inches in diameter, which runs through the roof. It is provided with a conductor to open the doors, preserve order, and give information. To avoid accidents from panics and to prevent insane people from jumping out, the windows will be covered with an iron grating. It is probable that one car in six will be reserved for smokers.
It is being considered whether each car shall not have a telephone connection with the office on the ground. It is thought that this would be an attraction, both as a sort of amusement for people who wished to converse with their friends below or in an other car and as a sort of reassurance to timid people. The thought of being detained up in the clouds, as it were, by accident, and not being able to learn what it is or when it will be remedied, might frighten some timid people out of making the trip. It is not very difficult, however, to climb by the wheel itself to any car, and there will always be men on the ground who can do this.
- The Great Ferris Wheel at Chicago-Attaching the Cars
Scientific American, July 1, 1893
Foundations of Concrete and Steel.
The wheel, with its cars and passengers, weighs about 1,200 tons, and therefore needs something substantial to hold it up. Its axis is supported, therefore, on two skeleton iron towers, pyramidal in form, one at each end of it. They are 40 x 50 feet at the bottom and 6 feet square at top, and about 140 feet high, the side next to the wheel being perpendicular, and the other sides slanting. Each tower has four great feet, and each foot rests on an underground concrete foundation 20x20x20 feet. Crossbars of steel are laid at the bottom of the concrete, and the feet of the tower are connected with and bolted to them with iron rods.
One would naturally suppose that there would be great danger of making such a huge wheel as this lopsided or untrue, so that it would not revolve uniformly. Even if the wheel itself were perfectly true, it would seem that the unequal distribution of passengers might make it eccentric in its speed. But according to L. V. Rice, the superintendent of construction, there is absolutely no danger of this kind. Not only did the wheel alone turn uniformly, but when the cars were hung, one after another, no inequality was observed. As to passengers, Mr. Rice says that the 1,400 passengers will have no more effect on the movements of the speed than if they were so many flies.
- Ferris Wheel Axle
Photographer: C. E. Waterman
The wheel, however, is never left to itself, but is always directly and constantly controlled by a steam engine. The wheel points east and west, and the one thousand horse power reversible engine which runs it is located under the east half of it and sunk four feet in the ground. The machinery is very similar to that used in the power houses of the cable car companies, and runs with the same hoarse roar that they do. It operates a north-and south iron shaft 12 inches in diameter, with great cog wheels at each end, by means of which the power is applied at each side of the wheel.
Power and Brakes.
The periphery of both of the great outer crowns of the great wheel is cogged, the cogs being about six inches deep and about eighteen inches apart; and the power of the engine is applied at the bottom of the wheel. Underneath the wheel, in line with the crown on each side, are two sprocket wheels nine feet in diameter, with their centers sixteen feet apart. They are connected by driving chain, which plays on the cogs of the great wheel wheels are operated by the engineer, who can turn slowly, as he may an immense endless their own cogs and as well. These sprocket engine at the will of the the wheel either way, and fast or wish.
But to make assurance doubly sure the great wheel is also provided with brakes. Near the north and south ends of the main shaft are two ten-feet wheels, with smooth faces, and girdled with steel bands. These bands terminate a little to one side in a large Westinghouse air-brake. If therefore anything should break, arid the engine fail to work, the air can be turned into the air-brake, and the steel band tightened until not a wheel in the whole machine can turn.
In the construction of this great wheel every conceivable danger has been calculated and provided for. Windage was the thing of greatest importance. for, although the wheel itself is all open work, the cars present an immense resisting surface. But Mr. Rice points to his two towers, with their bases fifty feet north and south of the wheel, and bolted into twenty feet of concrete, aud says that a gale of 100 miles an hour wonld have no effect. He says that all the frost and snow that could adhere to the wheel in winter would not affect it and that if struck by lightning it would absorb and dissipate the thunderbolt so that it would not be felt.
How to Get on Board.
It is arranged to empty and refill six cars with passengers at a times so that there will be six stops in every revolution. Accordingly six railed platforms of varying heights have been provided on the north side ot the wheel and six more, corresponding with these, on the south side of it. When the wheel stops each of the six lowest cars will have a platform at each of its doors. The passengers will step out of the south doors and other passengers will step in at the north doors. Then the next six cars will be served the same way, and the next and next all day and perhaps all night. It is expected that the wheel will revolve only once in every twenty minutes. Passengers will remain on board during two revolutions and pay fifty cents for their fun.
Scientific American added the following:
The wheel is 250 feet in diameter, 825 feet in circumference, and 30 feet wide, and is elevated 15 feet above the ground.
The great wheel is also provided with brakes. Near the north and south ends of the main shaft are two ten-feet wheels, with smooth faces, and girdled with steel bands. These bands terminate a little to one side in a large Westinghouse air brake. If therefore anything should break, and the engine fail to work, the air can be turned into the air brake, and the steel band tightened until not a wheel in the whole machine can turn. In the construction of this great wheel every conceivable danger has been calculated and provided for. Windage was a matter of the greatest importance, for, although the wheel itself is all open work, the cars present an immense resisting surface. But Mr. Rice points to the two towers, with their bases fifty feet north and south of the wheel, and bolted into twenty feet of concrete, and says that a gale of 100 miles an hour would have no effect. He says that all the frost and snow that could adhere to the wheel in winter would not affect it; and that if struck by lightning it would absorb and dissipate the thunderbolt so that it would not be felt.
It is arranged to empty and refill six cars with passengers at a time, so that there will be six stops in every revolution. Accordingly six railed platforms, of varying heights, have been provided on the north side of the wheel, and six more, corresponding with these, on the south side of it. When the wheel stops, each of the six lowest cars will have a platform at each of its doors. The passengers will step out of the south doors and other passengers will step in at the north doors. Then the next six cars will be served the same way, and the next and the next all day, and perhaps all night. It is expected that the wheel will revolve only once in every twenty minutes. Passengers will remain on board during two revolutions and pay fifty cents for their fun.
The Ferris Wheel Co. was capitalized at $600,000, and $300,000 worth of bonds were issued and sold. The final concession for the erection of the wheel was not granted until December, and all the work has been contracted for and done since then, the iron having been in the pig in January, while the scaffolding was not begun until March 20. By the terms of the concession, the company pays to the Exposition one-half of all its receipts after they have amounted to the cost of the wheel. On the day the wheel was first started, June 21, 5,000 guests were present at the inaugural ceremonies, all of whom were given a ride on the great wheel. The motion of the machinery is said to have been almost imperceptible.
Picturesque World’s Fair, An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views—Published with the Endorsement and Approval of George R. Davis, 1894
- THE FERRIS WHEEL.—What the Eiffel Tower was to the Paris Exposition the Ferris Wheel was to the Columbian. Like the Eiffel Tower, it was a triumph of engineering and an example of metal construction on a gigantic scale, but it had the additional feature of activity. It was in motion, a monster plaything, a device for furnishing a novel experience to the multitude. The story is told and seems to be authenticated that the idea of the wheel was conceived by Mr. Ferris while at dinner, and that the design and dimensions as he jotted them down on paper at the time were never changed, the wheel being constructed in the manner then determined upon. A remarkable object, one visible miles away, was the great structure and it lost none of its curious or attractive features upon a closer approach. The height of the wheel was two hundred and fifty feet, the steel towers on which it rested were one hundred and forty feet in height and sunk in the ground thirty-five feet, and the steel axle was forty-five feet long, thirty-two inches in diameter and weighing seventy tons. It was the largest piece of steel ever forged. The total cost of the wheel was $380,000, and it had, out of the receipts from carrying passengers, earned the entire sum by the first of September. Its erection proved an excellent speculation, daring as was thought the venture. Passengers were carried in thirty-six cars suspended between the double tires of the wheel.
- A VIEW THROUGH THE FERRIS WHEEL.—Imposing as was the Ferris Wheel seen from a distance, a great object towering aloft and showing the location of the Fair from a distance of miles away, it was scarcely less impressive when its monster parts were examined from one of the cars which revolved with it, carrying their hosts of passengers. It was not any intricacy in the design of the wheel nor the complexity of its mechanism which most commanded admiration, for its construction involved no novel law of mechanics nor engineering. but rather the simplicity of all, the grand scale of construction and the admirable finish of every part. In the illustration a close view is afforded of the system of tension spokes-the spokes really in use being always stretched, those below the axle tautening the upper arc and making a perpetual bridge—as well as of the great axle, the largest piece of steel ever forged. Two men and a boy, working under the big hammer of the Bethlehem Steel Works, made the great shaft, which was forty-five feet long, thirty-two inches in diameter and weighed seventy tons. It was made large enough and strong enough to bear six times the weight o the bridge across the Ohio River at Cincinnati. It rested and supported its burden at a height of one hundred and forty feet from the ground. As a specimen of daring engineering, well executed to a novel end, and of great work in iron and rested and steel, the Ferris Wheel has never been surpassed.
- THE FERRIS WHEEL BY NIGHT.-Those who saw and rode in the Ferris Wheel only by daylight missed one of the most impressive experiences afforded to the visitor. At night the great monster presented a very different appearance, as also did the surrounding attractions as viewed from its loftiest point. Illuminated with thousands of electric lights, which rendered invisible much of the ponderous frame-work when seen from a little distance, the wheel was transformed into an immense circle of fire, delicately constructed, with spokes and supporting towers or the same unsubstantial material. A trip around this circle, in one of the comfortable cars, was most satisfying to the searcher after novel and beautiful sights. Looking toward the White City the beholder was almost startled by the change that had taken place in the panorama since he had feasted his eyes upon it during the day. The objects that stood out most prominently then were now lost to view, or merely outlined in pencilings of light, while hundreds of new beauties that had not been seen before added a host of attractive features to the scene. The Ferris Wheel at night afforded the most advantageous position from which to view the general illumination and the display ot fireworks, without losing any of the artistic effects of the system of electric decoration as a whole. It also gave the beholder a most interesting picture, as if seen from a balloon, or a large section of Chicago by gaslight. Altogether a trip in the Ferris Wheel at night was an experience never to be forgotten.
- Ferris Wheel
Painting By Harley Dewitt Nichols
Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1893
SUE THE FERRIS WHEEL COMPANY.
The Exposition Managers Want to Got Hold of That $75,000.
As expected the World’s Columnbian Exposition has commenced an action against the Ferris Wheel company to secure payment of percentages amounting to $75,000. The papers were filed in the Circuit Court yesterday. Under a contract made with the promoters of tho wheel scheme the Exposition company claims it was to receive half the earnings after these exceeded $300,000. Tab was kept upon the number of admissions to the wheel by the Exposition Bureau, and a claim of $150,000 was made upon the wheel company as the Exposition’s share of the earnings after the $300,000 mark had been passed. The wheel company, it is said, paid to the Exposition $75,000. and retained the remaining $75,000 on deposit in the Union National Bank. Its officers hold among other things that the Exposition company has broken its contract in closing the Midway to visitors before January next.
- Ferris Wheel Car
- Ferris Wheel Under Construction
- Ferris Wheel
- View from the Ferris Wheel
A view from the top of the Ferris Wheel looking east.
- View from the Ferris Wheel
Another view from the top of the Ferris Wheel looking east at a slightly different angle.
Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1895
NOW ANOTHER FERRIS WHEEL FIGHT.
Amendment of the Amusement Ordinance Signed by Mayor Swift. Mayor Swift yesterday signed the amendatory amusement ordinance passed by the Council Monday night. The object was to prevent the operation of the Ferris Wheel at North Clark street and Wrightwood avenue.
Corporation Counsel Palmer said yesterday:
- The decision of the Appellate Court in no way interferes with the action of the Council. The decision is that the company may erect the wheel and that there shall be no interference on the part of the city. The ordinance has reference to issuing permits for amusements. The Ferris Wheel company has not asked for this kind of a permit. The city will take no action until it does or until it attempts to open an amusement of the character referred to in the amendatory ordinance.
Property-owners who desire to prevent the operation of the wheel have prepared to test the validity of the new ordinance in the courts. The Ferris Wheel people believe the measure is not valid. Henry S. Robbins, their attorney, says he will advise the company to proceed with the erection of the structure. General Manager Rice of the Ferris Wheel company said yesterday he looked on the ordinance as a persecution.
“The Ferris Wheel will do no injury whatever,” he said. “People have an idea that we will have a street in Cairo, dancing girls, and every other sort of Midway feature. It is all bosh. We will have a dining-room and café, and possibly a summer opera, and certainly there will be music. But the lights will all be out by 10:30 o’clock, and the admission will be 50 cents. Everything will be scrupulously respectable. The City Council has no rignt to suppress such a business, and we will see that it does not do so. We shall have the wheel running Aug. 15.”
- Views taken on August 14, 1895 of the Ferris Wheel being reassembled at 2653 N. Clark Street.
Inter Ocean, September 29, 1895
The big Ferris wheel which was one of the great features of the Midway is once more in operation.
Ever since It was torn down at the close of the World’s Fair the Ferris wheel has been an incongruous mass of iron until a little over six weeks ago, when it was transported to the North Side. For nearly four months the workmen have been at work at Wrightwood avenue and Clark street preparing to put the Ferris wheel in motion once more. A massive foundation of crossbars, concrete, and solid masonry was put in. This is twenty-nine feet deep and it took nearly three months and an expenditures of $40,000 to complete this portion of the work alone.
This complete, the workmen began to shape the mass of iron and steel into the large wheel which delighted so many visitors to the World’s Fair. For thirty-five days this work has been going on, and now the wheel is complete again. Yesterday the large engines which operate the big wheel were started, and the 2,300 tons of iron and steel were put In motion. The wheel revolves as easily as before it was torn down, and nearly all the clank and jar that attended its operation at Jackson Park are now absent, and it cannot be heard one-half a block distance. The same powerful, engines, drive the machinery, and the whole went together without a hitch. .
During the past week the management have had a force of 250 men busy rushing the work, and inside of a week, it is expected to have the big wheel ready to throw open to the public. Thursday was the day fixed, but it is doubtful if the wheel will be ready by that time. The cars have all been remodeled, and now the interior is of hardwood finish and the glazing is of double strength French plate.
The grounds around the wheel are in an unfinished state. It is intended to erect a summer opera pavilion just north of the wheel and around the machinery are located restaurants and promenades. In the southwest corner of the grounds will be a dining hall and cafe. The main floor is to consist of a large dining hail; the second will be devoted to private dining-rooms and a large banquet hall, while the third floor mill be reserved for the use of the employes.
It was not the intention of the management to open the grounds before next spring, when they have arranged to have the grounds beautified by 10,000 roses, twenty-eight small trees and other shrubs, and 15,000 electric lights. An orchestra of thirty pieces will discourse music and the opera pavilion will have an English opera company for a attraction.
The wheel itself will be open in a week, if the company carries out its present intentions, and visitors will have an opportunity to see Chicago from the clouds. The wheel is located ea one ef the highest points in the city. The wheel can be easily seen from Garfield Park. From the top a much better view of the city can be secured than when at Jackson Park. It is the intention to make the whole a single admission fee, and giving the visitors as much of a ride as they want. After paying at the gate a person can attend the opera, ride an hour, get out of the wheel, dine at the restaurant, and then go back and ride, all for one price of admission, with the exception of the dinner, of course. The grounds will be transformed into a park and efforts will be made to make wheel parties a fad among the fashionable people next year, and elegantly furnished dining-rooms will be one of the attractions.
- Auguste & Louis Lumière
Lumière Film Catalog no. 338
Chicago. Grande Roue
1896
Chicago Tribune, September 23, 1900
Ferris’ big wheel as a locomotive roundhouse for some enterprising railroad company is the latest novel purpose proposed for the disposition of that piece of gigantic machinery. Horace L. Fergus, 1507 Wolfram street, is the originator of the idea. He would have it laid over on its side, roofed over in regulation roundhouse fashion, and yet keep to its business of turning, thus receiving seventy-two locomotives if necessary from the one single track leading to its periphery. Frogs, turn tables, and switches would be done away with, and, as Mr. Fergus suggests, one of the most novel roundhouses in the world would be the result.
For seven years persons more or less associated in recollection with the World’s Fair have been suggesting the thing to do with the Ferris wheel. It has been Ixionic in its burdensomeness ever since it was erected in the Midway Plaisance of the exposition. Some one with more levity than practicality suggested that another one be built like it, that chain and sproket wheels be placed between, and some “scorcher” be elected to ride it into the Atlantic or the Pacific in pace-mak-ing time. Last spring it was to have gone to Germany as an amusement venture, but somehow the steamer that might have taken it wouldn’t wait for it.
Need to Pull to Pieces.
For the first time a Chicago man has had a real idca as to its best disposition and engineers pick some flaws in that. Mr. Fergus does not pretend to solve the engineering problem connected with the conversion of the wheel into the roundhouse. But he insists that it is quite possible as a practical proposition; as to whether it would cost more than it comes to, he cannot say. Mr. Fergus said:
- It would need to be pulled to pieces, of course. The spokes would be left out of the circles and the outer rim could be made with a floor and tracks, all moving by machinery after the fashion of the movable sidewalk at the Fair. Two tracks, at most, are all that would be necessary to lead to the entrance. Then, in or out of this entrance, locomotives could be shunted and turned to their stalls as easily as if they were toys.
Back of the engine stalls and in the center of the big wheel there would be room for a machine and repair shop. The capacity of the rim would be seventy-two engines, two standing side by side In each of the thirty-six spaces now occupied by the passenger cars of the wheel. The rollers under this rim could be fashioned after those under Chicago center pier bridges, thus reducing the friction to a minimum. The thickness of the wheel is great enough to provide all the elevation necessary to the biggest roundhouse. In completing the house the methods used in steel construction buildings might be carried out in detail.
T. Jordan, assistant engineer for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy rallroad, admits all the novelty and all the possibility which Mr. Fergus claims for his scheme. But at the same time he is of the opinion that if he were building a roundhouse and were offered the Ferris wheel at its value as scrap steel, he would not accept it for the purpose. Mr. Jordan said:
- The idea is novel enough and striking enough, but something more than novelty would be necessary to induce the construction department of a big railroad to undertake such a scheme. A roundhouse could be built out of the wheel, no doubt, but it would not be an exceptionally big house, and certainly for it to be arranged and operated as Mr. Fergus suggests would not be either economical or convenient.
Engineer Picks Flaws.
In the first place, he has suggested too many engines as the capacity of the wheel.
Thirty-six would be the limit. The tracks would have to converge in such a manner that two could not be accommodated in a section. This would lessen the possibility of making such use of the wheel.
Will Need Turntable.
Again, the whole suggestion for a movable rim is idle as doing away with a turntable. It would mean that if twenty or twenty-five engines were in the house and room had to be made for another, these engines, weighing 2,000 or 2,500 tons, would have to be moved to make way for it. There could be no economy in such expenditure of force.
Then, as to a central machine and repair shop, such a shop would be just where the machinist does not want it. At the front of the locomotive, as it stands in its stall, are the machinist’s bench and tools. At the tender end of the machine is a passage way from one stall to another. For a machinist to have to take out a cylinder at the front of the engine and carry it back to a repair shop seventy or eighty feet away would be absurd.
As to the wheel’s making the largest roundhouse in the world is not true. The Burlington roundhouse at Western avenue is 280 feet in diameter, and yet will accommodate but forty engines. Every year the rallroad locomotive is getting bigger and bigger. A stall seventy feet long is necessary to house it properly. In the Western avenue house the turntable in the center is sixty feet long.
Roof Would Be Needed.
But, granting that the framework of the Ferris wheel is all that could be desired for a roundhouse, the advantages that it would offer are small. Steel construction is valuable largely for its capacity in carrying up walls, and the walls of the ordinary roundhouse are not more than eighteen or twenty feet high. They can be run up in ordinary brick with every advantage. When the walls are up, only the roof is necessary. Estimating the cost of moving the wheel. It can be compared to bridgework of similar kind. To overhaul a bridge costs about six-tenths of a cent a pound. The wheel weighs 2,400,000 pounds, and to get the framework of the building in place would cost $1,440, to say nothing of the first cost of the steel.
Mr. Fergus has a great idea. It is quite possible to make a roundhouse of the wheel as he proposes. But only its novelty would appeal to a railroad company in need of a roundhouse—a novelty that would have to be paid for, with little gain in advertising to compensate.
The Ferris wheel, like the Great Eastern, which lald the first Atlantic cable, was virtually useless when the purpose for which it was built was met. As an attraction to the north of Lincoln Park it has not been a paying venture.
The wheel is 250 feet in diameter and weighs 1,200 tons. Its axle of steel is thirty-two inches in diameter and forty-five feet long. The wheel is thirty feet thick, and for this reason would raise the wall of a possible roundhouse to nearly twice the necessary height.
Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1902
If negotiations now in progress are successful the Ferris Wheel will be transported from the park in North Clark street to Coney Island, where it will be operated by a stock company.
Former Judge William A. Vincent, who is a stockholder in the company which now controls the wheel, said last night that a New York company has been given an option on the big mass of iron. The Eastern company even has gone so far as to advertise the wheel as a prospective attraction at Coney Island.
“We have given the option to an Eastern company and we anticipate an acceptance,” said Mr. Vincent. ” However. I am not prepared to say whether the wheel will be moved this year or not. It cannot be an attraction in the East this season, as nearly six months will be required to take it down, and set it up again in Coney Island. The removal will cost in the neighborhood of $150,000, and the money has yet to be raised. It is to interest capital in the venture. I believe that the company is advertising the wheel in the New York papers before the deal is closed.”
The big wheel was taken from its place in the Midway shortly after the World’s Fair closed and was moved to Ferris Wheel Park, in North Clark street, where it since has been operated in the summer season. A few years ago it was proposed to move the structure to Coney Island, but the expense was then considered too great. Later it was said that the wheel would be torn down and sold for junk.
Inter Ocean, June 7, 1903
FERRIS WHEEL BRINGS $8,150.
Relic of World’s Fair Days Will Go to Dealers in Junk.
The Ferris wheel was sold yesterday morning in Judge Chytraus’ court. Anxious buyers forced the price quickly up from $1,850, which was bid early in the week, and the structure was finally knocked down, to the Chicago House Wrecking company for $8,150. The bid was final and completes the sale of the machine that has been in the hands of the court for the last two years. A bond of $10,000 to insure tbe removsl of the wheel will be given.
The wheel was placed in the bands of Receiver Luther V. Rice two years ago, and since then efforts bave been made to conduct the business on a paying basis. The wheel has not been a paying proposition since the World’s fair, when it yielded a revenue of 200 per cent to investors. In 1901 the wheel was removed from Jackson park to 1844 North Clark street, north of Lincoln park. The cost of tbe removal is said to have been 185,000.
Inter Ocean. October 8, 1903
The Ferris Wheel to Go.
If we had not so recently passed through one of those enchanting spectacles for which we are becoming famous—if our ears were not still filled with the notes of martial music; if our eyes were not still suffering from the glare and glamour of the decorated streets and the1 soul-racking attack upon Fort Dearborn; if our thoughts were not still reverting sadly to the marvelous Indian exhibit in Lincoln park—if, in a word, we were only fully recovered from the effects of our magnificent centennial festival, we might now be reaching out for another large consignment of half-rate excursionists to join with us in celebrating the departure of the Ferris wheel.
For the Ferris wheel is to leave us. It is going to be set up on The Pike of the St. Louis exposition. Instead of overlooking North Clark street and the limits barns, as for the last seven or eight years, it will soon be overlooking the Catlin tract and the Skinker road.
And we shall miss it. Its removal will be the severing of another of those ties that have bound us to a happy past. One by one the mementos and monument of our White City are passing away. Christopher Columbus lies wrapped in his fur-lined overcoat in the Washington park junk yard, and now the Ferris wheel is going to St. Louis and eventually to the scrap heap. Thus the joys of life are fleeting. Every well-regulated memory in this beautiful Westland must revert at the
announcement of this transfer to those halcyon days when the Ferris wheel, freighted with youth, beauty, and old age, revolved for fourteen hours every day half-way up the Midway; to the days when all the nations of the earth in miniature were spread out like the patches of a crazy quilt, in birdseye perspective, before the occupants of the cars in the huge machine as it gracefully swung around upon its mighty axle When—
- Germany and Ireland
And far Dahomey,
Austria, and Iceland
Underneath them lay.
When they beheld—
Kiosks, turrets, mosques, and domes,
Huts from Hindustan,
Temple towers and Malay homes.
Tribes from the Soudan.
Denmark. Sweden, Switzerland
Down there to the right
England. Russia, France, and Spain—
All the world in sight.
It is really too bad that because of our recent exhausting efforts to entertain the strangers attracted to our city, we should not be able to organize pageant in celebration of the departure or the Ferris wheel. No doubt we might get up a farewell festival at trifling cost as many of the fall festival and centennial decorations could be used over again, but, as remarked before, we are not as yet recovered sufficiently even to think about it.
However, if the wheel shall not be removed for a month or two we may feel more like entering upon another round of delirious pleasure than we do now.
- Ferris Wheel Park
Clark and Wrightwood Streets
Rand McNally Business Atlas
1897
- Ferris Wheel
St. Louis Luisiana Purchase Exposition
St. Louis Dispatch, May 14, 1905
St. Louis Dispatch, January 4, 1906
The Ferris Wheel, the engineering marvel of two world’s fairs, on which six million have ridden, including representatives of every clime and every nation, made its last revolution and carried its last passengers at 4 p.m. yesterday.
When the skeleton of “The Roosevelt,” the last car remaining in position, had been carried slowly around the rim of the huge wheel, bearing three persons, it was taken off, ending the career of the wheel as a vehicle for sight-seeing.
Within a month it will be pulled from its bearings and roll from its framework and go crashing to the earth and be broken into junk.
The passengers on the last trip were W. G. Bennett, Superintendent of the Chicago House Wrecking Co., F. H. Burgess, representative of a Kansas City engine company, and a reporter.
It was exactly 4 o’clock when the three stepped on the platform of the car, from which the roof and sides had been removed, and took their positiions in the center.
The Last Revolution.
“Let ‘er go,” Mr. Bennett shouted to the engineer. The engine, somewhat asthmatic from long exposure to the elements, wheezed and snorted, and the wheel started with a jerk which at set the platform to swaying. The huge chains cracked on the sprockets and a moan as of protest, came from the bearings as the great axle began to revolve.
Mr. Bennett viewed the behavior of the mechanism with professional interest not unmixed with a sort of parental sentiment, for he had superintended the taking down of the wheel in Chicago and its setting up in St. Louis and knew all its parts and all its moods. He had ridden on it when it made its last revolution in Chicago and regarded it with feelings akin to affection.
He walked to the edge of the platform began to ascend and made a quick, keen survey of the structure to see that everything was all right. Since the close of the World’s Fair, over a year ago, it had not carried passengers on its grand circuit, and he wanted to be sure that the mechanism had not developed any crankiness during its long rest.
“It’s working as nicely as it ever did,” he said, with a tinge of pride in his tones, “but the engine will have a hard time pulling us around with the steam it has.”
There was a little hitch, which set the platform again to swaying, but Bennett only laughed.
“Many’s the time I’ve crawled up that rim,” he said by way of conveying that making the ascent on a teetering platform was tame business.
Car Crept Up Slowly.
Very slowly the car crept toward the summit of the wheel. Bennett stopped watching the wheel itself to take a survey of the work of destruction of the magnificent picture on which close to 2,000,000 persons looked down during the Louisiana Purchase Expositiin.
“You can see from here,” he said, “how well advanced the work of demolishing the Fair has progressed.”
The car was approaching the apex of the wheel, 265 feet from the ground. Bennett walked to the edge of of the platform again and looked down through the iron network. “This is the only place,” he said, “where you can get an adequate idea of the huge size of the structure.”
“Now we are at the top,” he said, coming back to the center of the platform,. and the three passengers in the instant took the last look over the fair and park and city and the hazy landscape beyond that will ever be taken from the dying as the day was dying and silence top of this Ferris Wheel.
The three passengers were silent as the platform swung out and down on the westward side. The old wheel was fitting.
Trip Occupied Eight Minutes.
The chains creaked dolefully over the sprockets as the platform settled into place and the great wheel came to its last stop. The trip had occupied eight minutes.
Bennett, was the superintendent again.
“Take it down,” he ordered, the men who were standing ready, and they began to displace the car.
Bennett did not look back as he walked toward his buggy and he was thoughtful as he drove back toward the office.
The platform on which the last trip was made was known as “The Roosevelt” during the Fair, because it was the one in which Alice Roosevelt and a party of her friends made the circuit of the wheel when she visited Miss Irene Catlin and saw the Fair. It was also the car in which all the marriage ceremonies, upwards of fifty, which took place on the wheel, were solemnized.
Just before the final trip was taken Mr. Bennett took four brave girls from the offices of the company on a partial revolution of the wheel. They wanted to go all the way round, but he was reluctant to take the responsibility and had to refuse them. They were Misses Gertrude Jacobs, Millie Allina, Marie Gerwe and Hilda Herminhaus.
The Ferris Wheel was to the Chicao and St. Louis fairs what the Eiffel Tower was to the Paris Exposition. It spread the fame of its designer and builder. George Washington Ferris of Chicago, to the ends of the earth.
An Engineering Wonder.
It was the crowning engineering wonder of the Chicago Exposition and was brought to the St. Louis Exposition because nothing more wonderful could be devised.
The great wheel, still in position, but now stripped of all the cars, is 250 feet in diameter. It weighs 5,000 tons. It was constructed and erected at the Chicago Fair within six months, the work of making the parts being distributed among a number of foundries. Notwithstanding that it was not ready for the opening of the Fair, there and was only operated 100 days, it was a tremendous popular and financial success.
It earned $750,000 which it had cost to to build it and earned close to 100 per cent in the investment.
At the close of the Chicago Fair a company was organized to operate it and it was removed to Lincoln Park. But it never made money there. It finally went into the hands of a receiver. The Chicago Wrecking Co. bought it for $15,000, intending to wreck it, but decided to bring it to St. Louis, which they did at a coast of $20,000.
Over three million persons rode on it at the Chicago Fair and probably a million rode on it during the years that it was at Lincoln Park. At St. Louis the number was close to 2,000,000 and it earned 20 per cent on the investment.
Altogether there has been expended on the wheel, in building and moving it, over the $1,200,000.
Carried $30,000 One Day.
On Chicago Day at the Columbian Exposition, the wheel carried 30,000 persons. St. Louis Day at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition it carried 11,000. It was capable of carrying 2,150 at a revolution and has often carried that number.
On the first revolution it ever made the passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Ferris and a party of friends, who christened it. On its last revolution in Chicago the passengers were Mr.Bennett, Abraham Harris, president of the wrecking company, and a few others.
After the close of the Fair here it was thought that the wheel would be taken to some amusement resort, but the cost of moving it precluded this, and its end will be the scrap heap.
It is to be taken down by constructing a runway, sawing the bearings and starting it with ropes and an engine. It is expected to roll out of the framework and topple over and be broken up while prostrate.
- LEFT: St. Louis Dispatch, May 11, 1906
RIGHT: St. Louis Dispatch, May 12, 1906
Chicago Tribune May 12, 1906
Blown to pieces by a monster charge of dynamite. the Ferris wheel cane to an ignominious end yesterday at St. Louis, attar a varied career of thirteen years. At its ending it was unwept and unsung.
Constructed as one of the engineerIng feats of a century, the wheel first was a feature of the Chlcago world s fair In 1893.
Then for a long period of monumental and unprofitable inactivity it towered in an amusement park at North Clark street and Wrlghtwood avenue. It finally was removed to St. Louis to form for the second time the huge mechanical marvel of a great exposition.
For more than a month heavy wagons laden with the 4,600 tons of steel entering into its constructIon lumbered through Chicago’s streets.
Giant Wheel Fights for Life.
The old wheel, which bad become St. Louis’ white elephant, died hard. It required 200 pounds of dynamite to put it out of business. The first charge was exploded under the supports at the north side of the structure, wrecking its foundation and permitting the wheel to drop to the ground, a matter of but a few feet.
As the wheel settled it slowly turned, with its bottom as a support, and then after tottering a moment like a huge giant in distress, it collapsed, slowly. It did not fall to one side, as the wreckers planned—it merely crumpled up slowly. Within a few minutes it was a tangled mass of steel and iron thirty or forty feet high,
The huge axle, weighing seventy-four tons, dropped slowly with the remnants of the wheel, crushing the smaller braces and steel frame work. When the mass stopped settling it bore no resemblance to the wheel which was so familiar to Chicago and St. Louis and to 7,500,000 amusement seekers from all over the world, who, in the days when it was In operation, made the trip to the top of its heighth of 264 feet and then slowly around and down to the starting point.
Following the blast that wrecked the wheel, but which failed to shatter its foundations, came an explosion of another charge of 100 pounds of dynamite. The sticks were sunk in holes drilled in the concrete foundations that supported the pillars on the north side of the wheel.
- Ferris Wheel After Demolition.
Wonder of Two Continents.
The wheel Was the wonder or two continents, by reason of its cost of $360,000, its dimensions, and Its utter uselessness. It was the rival of the Eiffel tower of Paris. Chicago was glad to get rid of it, and St. Louis is said to have witnessed its destruction with satisfaction.
George Washington Gale Ferris, president of a Pittsburg engineering firm, originated the idea of the wheel that bore his name, taking the notion from a bicycle and adapting the constructive principles of in its erection.
Ferris financed the wheel, built it in Pittsburg. erected it at the Chicago Columbian exposition, and took in $750,000 at 50 cents a ride. Then Ferris took a kaleidoscope trip to Europe. Later he lost all interest in the monster, and died on Pittsburg of tuberculosis. He was only 40 years old.
The stockholders, who had made 100 per cent profit out of the wheel in 1893, later leased the ground in North Clark street a short distance north of Wrightwood avenue, and re-erected it there. Ferris wheel park Was not a success, and the wheel was taken down again and removed to St. Louis on. June 3, 1903. The cost of taking down the wheel was $40,000. Its ruins are estimated as worth $8,000 as scrap iron.
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