George Washington Gale II FERRIS

  General Notes:

George W.G. Ferris, Class of 1881
Civil Engineer, Inventor
1859 - 1896

Ferris began his career in the railroad industry and pursued an interest in bridge building.

Foreseeing an increase in the use of structural steel, he founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders.

When the chief of construction for the World’s Columbian Exposition challenged America’s civil engineers to produce something to rival the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Exposition, Ferris’s imagination was fired.

He conceived the Ferris Wheel, which rose 250 feet and carried 36 cars, each with a capacity for 40 passengers, revolving under perfect control, and stable against the strongest winds from Lake Michigan.

The daring and accuracy of its design and the precision of the machine work of its construction won the admiration of engineers and the joy and wonder of generations.



266 Feet in Air:
The Ferris Wheel Turns and Mrs. Ferris Gives a Toast:
Her Husband's Health and the Wheel's Success--
Two Carloads of More or Less Nervous Guests Join Her in Drinking It.

From the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, 17 June 1893.
Special to the Commercial Gazette.
Chicago, June 16.--Standing on a chair in a car swaying 266 feet above the earth a little woman raised a glass of champagne to her lips and drank to the health of her husband. The little woman looked wonderfully pretty. Her eyes shone with the light of love and wifely pride. She smiled sweetly at those in the cars beneath her and they cheered wildly for her and her husband. She was dressed in a dainty gown of black, trimmed with gold. She said softly as she made the toast:
"To the health of my husband and the success of the Ferris wheel."

She wasn't a bit afraid as she stood there, and that alone shows the immense amount of faith she must have in George W. S.[sic] Ferris, both as husband and mechanical engineer. Her black eyes sparkled deliciously as she made the toast and the bright color shown in her cheeks and the mist-laden wind played tenderly with her dark curls.

It was 6:15 o'clock last night when the great 1,000-horse power engine underneath the Ferris wheel began to throb slowly. A car resembling a large street car without wheels was swung up to the first entrance landing at the east approach to the wheel. First two big hampers of champagne and boxes of cigars were carried into the car and placed on the tables.

Some Were Timid.
Then two-score invited guests filed in, their faces expressing all the emotions, ranging from pleased expectancy to a very palpable timidity. Then a second car was swung to the landing and more guests piled in. Some men with voices of marked huskiness shouted unintelligible orders to each other and the great wheel began to revolve for the first time.
It was 6:32 o'clock. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, it lifted the cars away from the earth, revolving from east to west. A fourth of the way up the wheel stopped. The passengers gasped in unison and looked at each other with smiles more or less sickly. They looked down and saw that they were hanging directly over the Austrian village. Suddenly they heard the regular throbbing of the engines again and felt much better.

The wheel climbed steadily upward and the passengers grew bolder. Some of them looked over the edge of the car and at once became less bold. In eight minutes the wheel had completed the first quarter of the circle. In seven minutes more the loaded cars had measured half the circumference and hung 266 feet above the earth.
Again the engines stopped and the champagne was poured. All in the two cars drank standing to George W. S.[sic] Ferris, Mrs. Ferris proposing the toast and calling it across to those in the next car. Then all gave three cheers to the inventor and drank to the health of his pretty wife with immense enthusiasm.



Enjoy the View.
Then more cheers were given, more wine was drunk, some impromptu congratulatory speeches were made, and the guests, just a trifle hysterical from the excitement and the unwonted nervous strain, turned to enjoy the view. Looking to the north and west they saw the great majestic city lying beneath them shimmering in the rays of the setting sun and radiant in the foliage of early summer. The ever-present pall of smoke hung low over the spires and housetops to the north, but was slowly receding before the soft evening breeze. Directly beneath was the wonderful panorama of the Midway Plaisance, black with its seething, world-garnered population, flashing with the mingled glow of colored lights and gay banners.

Faintly there came to the ears the sound of many kinds of music, now the plaintive wailing of an Arab's flute or the dull, monotonous pounding of a Turk's tamtam. Again one heard the majestic strains of a German national hymn. It was an impressive almost weird scene, a memorable experience, this looking down for the first time on this wondrous street teeming with thousands swept by the breath of the effort of the ages into this narrow lane and there living and moving in careless gayety for a summer's holiday.

City of Palaces.
To the east was the wonderful city of glistening palaces, whose shadows stretched far out into the heaving waters. It was like the dreams of the biblical prophets who saw in their reveries the nations of the earth come together in mighty concourse and to whom the glories of heaven were revealed.

Of the marvelous mechanism by which this great picture was disclosed to men it is enough to say that its cost was $400,000, that the axle on which the beam turns weighs 140,000 pounds and is the largest piece of steel ever cast in one piece. The entire weight of the wheel and its mechanism is [4,800] tons as is moved by two engines of 1,000-horse power each. Over 2,100 persons may make the trip at one time. The formal opening of the wheel to the public will take place Wednesday next with a program of speeches and music.

Galesburg's Big Wheel
by Terry Hogan

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One of Galesburg's own has given joy and thrills to millions of people over the years through his creation. Unfortunately, it didn't for him. He died November 21, 1896, bankrupt, living alone in a Pittsburgh hotel. His obituaries reported a variety of causes for death ranging from typhoid to tuberculosis. There were even unsubstantiated rumors of suicide. Shortly after his death, a civil lawsuit judgment went against his company for $84,000. His remains were reported to be unclaimed 15 months after his death.

George Washington Gale Ferris was the creator of the Ferris Wheel that towered over Chicago at the World's Columbian Exposition. It was America's answer to the Eiffel Tower and it challenged the engineering and construction capabilities of the early 1890s. In 1893, thousands of people waited in line to ride into history. The giant wheel could carry 2,160 people at a time, raising them to the equivalent height of a 26 story building. Probably few knew the challenges and uncertainties that had to be overcome in the design and construction of this marvel.

George Ferris was born in Galesburg on February 14, 1859. He came from an old and historically well-known Galesburg family. The Ferris' connection with Galesburg's founder accounts for George Ferris' full name. George also came from a clever family. An uncle, Nathan Ferris, developed a market for popcorn in England by popping it up for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846. It was a royal marketing ploy.

George and his family moved to Nevada when he was only five years old. He received his engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, providing the technical knowledge that he would soon use. He opened an engineering firm in Pittsburgh that inspected bridges. The firm later opened offices in New York City and Chicago.

Ferris claimed that he developed the concept for the Ferris wheel while at a dinner in Chicago. He reported that by the end of dinner, he had sketched out the details. Some have doubted this story given the complex engineering involved. Those same skeptics also note the existence of a law suit challenging the originality of the wheel. Beyond legal problems, Ferris also had technical doubters and problems raising money for the project. Some worried that the design was insufficient to withstand the strain and the wheel would deform when rotated. Others doubted its ability to withstand the winds of the "windy city."

Ferris used his own credit to begin ordering construction materials. He also formed a new company, selling stock to raise additional funds for the project. Stock sales were slow until "big name" investors became involved. Nine Detroit steel mills were used to produce the components of the wheel. The steel was shipped on 150 rail cars. Because of time constraints, Ferris had to construct the concrete foundations in January, 1893, when temperatures dropped to ten degrees below zero. To add to the difficulties, quicksand was encountered while digging the foundation to bedrock.

The wheel was driven by a thousand horsepower coal-fired steam engine. Sprocket wheels and a driving chain was used to turn the massive wheel. A spare steam engine was on site as emergency backup.

Upon completion of construction, the wheel held 36 gondolas. Each gondola had 40 stools plus standing room for 20 additional paying customers. The fare was a very steep 50 cents, representing a significant portion of an average man's daily wage. Reportedly it took about 20 minutes to completely load the wheel. Once fully loaded, it gave a ten-minute non-stop ride. Its debut at the Exposition was on June 21, 1893, missing the fair's opening day on May 1. Each gondola had a uniformed conductor to operate the doors and to reassure fearful riders. The enclosed gondolas had windows that opened for ventilation, but were designed to prevent passengers from jumping out. The wheel performed flawlessly in Chicago. It is reported that it served 38,000 riders on its peak day.

During July high winds struck Chicago, challenging Ferris' design. Ferris took the opportunity to load himself, his wife, and a reporter onto the wheel and endured 110 mile per hour winds at the top of the wheel. The reporter later wrote of the event:

"As the mad storm swept round the cars the blast was deafening. It screamed through the thin spider-like girders, and shook the windows with savage fury. It was a place to try better men's nerves. The inventor had faith in his wheel; Mrs. Ferris in her husband. But the reporter at that moment believed neither in God nor man."

By the end of the exposition on October 30th, the Ferris wheel had taken in nearly three quarters of a million dollars. But costs had been high and much of the money was due to the fair board. Profits had been small. The seven week delay in opening the Ferris wheel for business cost the inventor dearly. The wheel was disassembled, stored, and later reassembled near Lincoln Park in Chicago. However it failed to generate large crowds and the revenue was inadequate. An imitation of Ferris' wheel was constructed at Coney Island in New York. It was advertised to be the largest Ferris wheel in the world, but in reality it was half the size of the original. The smaller wheel at Coney Island drew 10,000 people a day in 1896 but over time it became less of a novelty.

Ultimately the original Ferris wheel was sold at a bankruptcy auction in Chicago. A salvage firm bought it for $8,150. Rather that being scrapped, the Ferris wheel was shipped to St. Louis and reassembled for one more try. This time its host was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The Ferris wheel took in over $250,000ã again thrilling its riders. But this failed to even cover the cost of shipment and assembly in St. Louis.

St. Louis proved to be the original Ferris wheel's last whirl. On May 11, 1906, a dynamite blast announced the end of the original Ferris wheel. It had survived its creator by a decade.

But as we know, both the name and the ride live on in smaller versions. Both London and Vienna had Ferris wheels prior to 1900. The Vienna Ferris wheel was featured in the dramatic conclusion of the old film classic, The Third Man. Smaller, more mobile versions began to be constructed. In 1900, at nearby Jacksonville, Ill., a prototype was constructed and tested in Central Park. It proved successful and by 1906, it gave rise to the Eli Bridge Company that manufactures small Ferris wheels. The smaller Ferris wheels can be seen and experienced at county and state fairs, where they cater to those of us who prefer to be thrilled but not scared to death.

When the Ferris wheel arrives at the Knox County fairgrounds it has come full circle-back to the birth place of its creatorã George Washington Gale Ferris.