TRADESHOW HISTORY
nary electricity. And still, they wanted something more. They wanted a landmark – they wanted something memorable that would “out-Eiffel the Eiffel Tower.”
The First Ferris Wheel BY BOB MCGLINCY
Expositions and World’s Fairs in the nineteenth century were the settings for mega-tradeshows, with each location building on the previous event. The organizers of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair wanted to outdo the Paris Exposition of 1889 26 Oct/Nov/Dec 2023 Exhibit City News
in every way. They wanted it to be bigger, better, and more exciting. They recruited an allstar team of architects. They invited 46 countries to participate and would attract a record-setting 65,000 exhibitors. They planned to astonish the world with their extraordi-
“Out Eiffel the Eiffel Tower” Gustave Eiffel offered to outdo himself and designed a 1,500-foot-tall iron-and-steel structure. Which sounded great, as it would be almost 500 feet taller than the iconic 81-story entrance to the Paris Exposition. But no, the organizers wanted something distinctly American. Daniel Burnham, the Fair’s Director, challenged a group of assembled engineers: “Show me,” he said, “something novel, original, daring, and unique.” George Washington Gale Ferris Jr accepted the challenge. Ferris was a graduate of RPI and began his career in Pittsburgh as a civil engineer. He recognized the demand for steel and the opportunity for business success. He founded a company testing the structural integrity of railroad bridges. In 1892, Ferris’ company was hired to inspect the steel in the Fair’s main exhibition halls – the area surrounding the lagoon, known as “The White City.” That’s how he knew Burnham. That’s why he was there with other engineers the day the challenge was issued … the same day he sketched an initial design on a napkin. The Idea Ferris proposed a giant, rotating wheel. A wheel three hundred feet tall. A wheel carrying a thousand people,
maybe even two thousand people. A wheel revolving high into the sky, far above the fairgrounds. The idea shocked the Fair’s organizers! They had never heard of such a thing! One Board member called him “a crackpot”; another laughed and said, “Ferris has wheels in his head.” One of the prominent architects of the day called the design “a monstrosity.” Another, visualizing the worst, shouted, “the whole contraption could collapse under its own weight.” Burnham called the design “fragile.” Undeterred, the thirtythree-year-old Ferris hired engineering firms to review his detailed blueprints. His out-of-pocket expense exceeded $25,000; but the price was worth it. The independent safety reviews changed minds, and a majority of the Board conceded Ferris could proceed … provided he funded the construction himself. Ferris then formed a stock company and collected $400,000 from private investors. The Fair was larger than life, and so was Ferris’ idea. He called it, quite simply, “The Wheel.” And though the name was simple, the engineering was not. In its final design, the “Wheel” would stand 264 feet high and carry 36 train-sized cars. Each one would be a glass-enclosed gondola, 27 feet long, 13 feet wide, and 9 feet high. A single carriage housed forty rotating chairs; and fully loaded with people, it would weigh about 26,000 pounds. The steelwork frames would be two rotating circles, carrying 2,160 people 25 sto-