| 1893 World's Fair Columbian Exposition, "Ferris
Wheel" Next to the Fair, entertainer Sol Bloom created the Midway, a
strip of land about a mile long that had restaurants, entertainment, ethnic
villages, and the famous Ferris wheel. Each of the 36 cars suspended at
the circumference of this high tension wheel was 27 feet long, 13 feet wide,
and 19 feet high, almost as large as the entire floor of a narrow New York
brownstone. 38 revolving seats in four rows filled each car, with standing
room for 22 addition persons, a maximum of 60 passengers per car, or a total
of 2160 people for the fully loaded wheel. Over 1.5 million passengers paid
fifty cents each to travel up and around the wheel's 320 foot vertical circumference.
Source: Official Guide Book, 1893. |
