Ferris Wheel

The Ottoman Turks, who, if the journals of travelers are to be believed, had the first merry-go-rounds, also may have had the first Ferris wheel. In the 1600s a British traveler Peter Mundy supposedly witnessed a children’s ride in a vertical wheel along the edges of which seats holding children were attached, and always staying upright. Similar designs popped up infrequently in places as far away as Siberia, but the modern Ferris wheel came from the U.S. and from a man named Ferris, as the the answer to France’s 1889 Eiffel Tower.

On this day, June 21, in 1893, four years after Gustave Eiffel finished construction of his famous Tower, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. debuted his 264-ft high wheel as the centerpiece of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Ferris’ giant wheel had 36 cars, each one with 40 revolving seats. It took 11 minutes to complete a full revolution, with six brief stops along the way to allow passengers to exit and enter. The second revolution would be non-stop and last nine minutes. Each passenger paid 50 cents (about $12 in today’s money) per ticket.