| George Washington Ferris, Jr. |
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| ::darkshadows:: (bat@cave.org) |
2009/05/07 04:53 |
George Washington Ferris, Jr.
George Washington and Martha Ferris had a son in 1859 and named him
after his father.
Young George studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and became an
engineer. In the 1880s he built railroads, tunnels, and bridges,
including a series of bridges across the Ohio River.
By the early 1890s, he had earned a reputation as an engineer, and so
he was called upon to design something special for the World Columbian
Exhibition in Chicago. What Ferris came up with was a wheel 250 feet
in diameter that could carry mom than 2,000 passengers into the air
and back down again.
The ride was the highlight of the exhibition, attracting 1.5 million
passengers. It spawned many imitators, and soon no fair was complete
without its own ferris wheel.
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