wikipedia.com
My beautiful niece Jacqueline rode a Ferris wheel for the first time this last week. Ironically it was on this date in 1893 that the first Ferris wheel premiered at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. I found this out as I came across a letter that was sent from the Exposition.
Designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the wheel measured 264 feet in height and featured 36 cars. Each car accommodated up to 60 people giving it a total capacity of 2,160 people! That’s almost three times the amount of people who can ride the London Eye.
After the Exposition ended, the wheel was transported to St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair. And then for reasons unbeknownst to me, they blew the thing up two years later. Weird.
Letter sent from Chicago on Sep. 22, 1893 featuring the Ferris wheel from the Columbian Exposition in blue at top left. stampauctionnetwork.com
The letter was written on official World’s Columbian Exposition stationery. stampauctionnetwork.com