
For more than a century, the Ferris wheel has captured people’s imaginations as a universal symbol of entertainment and spectacle. Today, Ferris wheels come in a variety of sizes and can be found in cities, fairs, and amusement parks all over the world.
However, not as much is known about the Ferris wheel’s past. Who created the “Chicago Wheel” and what served as their inspiration? The story is told in this CBS Sunday Morning video.

The original Ferris wheel was constructed in Chicago, Illinois, for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, as its name implies. Daniel Burnham, the director of Exposition, was presented with the bold idea of a massive metal wheel by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., a visionary structural engineer. The structure was intended to rival the famous Eiffel Tower.

It is said that Ferris was inspired by observing a water wheel. However, even with his structure’s original materials and scale, he wasn’t the first to invent the wheel. According to Smithsonian Magazine:
…a carpenter named William Somers was building 50-foot wooden wheels at Asbury Park, Atlantic City and Coney Island; a roundabout, he called it, and he’d even patented his design. But Ferris had not only been challenged to think big; the huge attendance expected at the fair inspired him to bet big. He spent $25,000 of his own money on safety studies, hired more engineers, recruited investors. On December 16, 1892, his wheel was chosen to answer Eiffel. It measured 250 feet in diameter, and carried 36 cars, each capable of holding 60 people.
Over the course of the fair, over 1.4 million people seized the opportunity to take in the breathtaking views of Lake Michigan and Chicago from an elevation of 80 meters (264 feet) thanks to Chicago’s Ferris wheel, which provided fairgoers with an unprecedented 10-to 20-minute ride.
More than 120 massive Ferris wheels, including gigantic observation wheels in Dubai, Las Vegas, London, Singapore, throughout China, and more, continue to amaze riders, despite the fact that it was sold to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1904 World’s Fair and destroyed for scrap metal in 1906.


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Saudi Arabia camel carvings dated to prehistoric era
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How Greek prime minister in 1830’s tried to spread the potato in Greece
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How Cleveland's Balloonfest in 1986 Turned Into a Public Tragedy
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Remembering the 1945 Empire State Building Disaster: When a Plane Met Skyscraper
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Martin Couney, Saved Thousands of Premature Babies Wasn’t a Doctor at All
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Why This Belgian Bar Makes You Trade Your Shoe for a Beer
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Susanna Salter: The Trailblazing Story of America’s First Female Mayor
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Henry Ford, The man popularizing the concept of the weekend off
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The incredible story of Julia "Butterfly" Hill and her legacy
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Louis Le Prince Invented the motion picture camera, and then he mysteriously disappeared
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Nathan's Famous Doctor Stunt
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Archaeologists Uncover 2,000-Year-Old Amazonian Cities Using Lidar Technology
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The Day an Israeli F-15 Landed with One Wing: Zivi Nedivi’s Unbelievable Mid-Air Survival
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Story of Kathrine Switzer: the first woman to run in Boston Marathon
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Nuclear bomb accidentally dropped on North Carolina in 196
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The Mouth of Truth: Ancient Rome’s Legendary "Lie Detector" That Bit Off Hands
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Quaker Oats Fed Children with Radioactive Oatmeal
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D.B. Cooper: Man who hijacked a plane and jumped out with a $200,000
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story of the youngest mother in the world at age of five - Lina Medina
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Albert Einstein’s brain after it was stolen from his body
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Why was the Eiffel Tower almost demolished
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Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination that sparked World War I
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The Tragic Story Of Mary Ann Bevan, The ‘Ugliest Woman In The World’
After the death of her husband, Mary Ann Bevan had no income to support herself and her children. She then decided to enter a contest where she won the title of “ugliest woman” and was later hired by a circus. She endured this ridicule from the world to provide for her family.

The 440-pound bear named Wojtek and his World War II battle against the Nazis
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