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)