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| John Nowakowski -> Forgotten Chicago |
View through the Ferris Wheel at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, with inner view of spokes, axle, and corresponding cars. The wheel rotated on a 71-ton, 45.5-foot axle comprising what was at that time the world's largest hollow forging. Each car on the wheel, was comparable to the size of a trolly streetcar.
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| HydeParkHistory |
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| HydeParkHistory On March 18, 1893, the 89,320 pound axle, forged in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company, arrived in Chicago… the largest hollow forging in the world at the time, it was 45 1/2 feet long, 33 inches in diameter… Four and one-half feet from each end it carried two 16 foot diameter cast-iron spiders weighing 53,031 pounds. |
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| Cool Old Pic of the Day Club posted
Ferris Wheel from the Chicago World's Fair, 1893. Each of the 36 cars held 60 people for a total of 2160 passengers.
For the World’s Fair of 1893, Chicago planners desperately wanted something to compete with the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower had been standing for four years, having been completed for the Parisian World’s Fair. The city of Chicago entertained many submissions, but most of the submitted sketches looked like Eiffel Tower knock-offs and were not very innovative. Along came George Washington Ferris with his submission of a circular construction that moved and was taller than the recently installed Statue of Liberty. The committee originally turned him down as the entire “Ferris Wheel” contraption was deemed deadly and wildly impractical.
Mark Kuehn My great grandfather Louis Chadim, helped build this Ferris Wheel. He worked for Fairbanks-Morse. They built the steam engines that propelled the wheel.Kirstin Kay Courtney Grimes The steam engines were salvaged, and sent east to Pennsylvania, I believe, before it was taken down. |
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| 1 min Sotry posted At the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, people didn’t first flock to ornate pavilions or exotic exhibits. Instead, they gathered to watch a colossal steel wheel slowly turning against the skyline — the very first giant Ferris wheel in history. Designed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., it was America’s bold answer to the Eiffel Tower: part ride, part engineering marvel. Rising 264 feet [80m] into the air, it carried 36 massive cars, each holding up to 60 passengers. Over 2,000 people could ride at once, gently swaying as Chicago and Lake Michigan stretched out below. For many fairgoers, this was their first time seeing the world from such a height without standing on a mountain or a tall building. [I wonder what the tallest building was back in 1893.] The ride wasn’t just thrilling — it was a shining example of human ingenuity reaching higher than ever before. A decade later, another invention would capture the world’s imagination: in 1903, the Wright brothers’ flying machine truly lifted humanity into the sky. But in that summer of 1893, it was the great Ferris wheel that made people believe the impossible could be built. |
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| David Nash commented on a post History pictures posted [The information buried amongst the platitudes in the description is that it was 264' high and the largest wheel when completed. Also, it had 30 cars, each of which could hold 30 people.] |
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| Glen Miller posted, but I could not get a Facebook link The Ferris Wheel being assembled in 1893. The wheel rotated on a 71-ton, 45.5-foot axle comprising what was at that time the world's largest hollow forging, manufactured in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company and weighing 89,320 pounds, together with two 16-foot-diameter (4.9 m) cast-iron spiders weighing 53,031 pounds. This photo reminds me so much of Gulliver's Travels and the Lilliputians. https://www.lakeviewhistoricalchronicles.org/2012/03/?m=1 John Frazier shared |
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