George Washington Ferris, inventor of the Ferris Wheel, born in Galesburg, Illinois

George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., was born this day on a dairy farm near Galesburg, Illinois. Thirty-four years later he erected the first Ferris Wheel at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The attraction opened on June 21, 1893 and carried an estimated one and a half million people in a 4000 ton wheel to a height of 265 feet above the ground. Ferris died of typhoid in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1896 at the age of 37. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Norman D. Anderson, Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992), 74-75.
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Science/Technology
    How to Cite This Page: "George Washington Ferris, inventor of the Ferris Wheel, born in Galesburg, Illinois," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/22651.