The Ferris Wheel - Height 264 Feet
Undivided card postmarked Sept. 20, 1904
(Click on image for larger view of Ferris Wheel)
| Designed by George Ferris to be
the "Eiffel Tower" of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Each of its 36 cars weighed thirteen tons and seated up to 40
passengers. After the closing of the fair, the Ferris Wheel was
disassembled and moved to Chicago's North Side. After the early death of George Ferris in 1896, the wheel was sold to the Chicago House Wrecking Company which reassembled it at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It was demolished in 1906. For more background information, I recommend: Hyde Park Historical Society http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/newsletter.html "The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, The Dream City": http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/dreamcity/00024024.html "The Devil In The White City" by Erik Larson , published 2003 by Vintage Books, a division of Random House. Documentary, "The Magic Of The White City" 2005 - narrated by Gene Wilder. http://www.columbianexpo.com/ |