
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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Terry Fox, a 21-year-old one-legged cancer patient who ran 143 days before dying
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Ea-Nasir: world's oldest written customer complaint
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1972 Andes Plane Crash Survivor recall the terrifying Struggles to Stay Alive
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Blanche Monnier: Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love
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Saudi Arabia camel carvings dated to prehistoric era
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Nuclear bomb accidentally dropped on North Carolina in 196
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How Sleep Deprivation Was Once Used as Torture
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The 1976 April Fools' Pranks, Planetary Alignment
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Story of Kathrine Switzer: the first woman to run in Boston Marathon
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Why the Word ‘Pen’ Comes from the Latin ‘Penna’ Meaning Feather
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Robert Odlum, the first person to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge
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Shizo Kanakuri’s 1912 Olympic Marathon Finished 54 Years
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The World’s First Seismograph: How Ancient China Detected Earthquakes 1,800 Years Ago
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The Bizarre (And Magical) Duel Between Chung Ling Soo And Ching Ling Foo
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The true story of Josephine Myrtle Corbin, the lady born with four legs and two private parts
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Roller Coasters were First Invented to Distract People from sin
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How 18th Century Women’s Rights Movements Shaped Modern Equality
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Nathan's Famous Doctor Stunt
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The day Iceland's women went on strike
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D.B. Cooper: Man who hijacked a plane and jumped out with a $200,000
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Why was the Eiffel Tower almost demolished
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The unbroken seal on King Tutankhamun's tomb until 1922
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