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About National Ferris Wheel Day

Ferris Wheel Day honors George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the inventor of the Ferris Wheel. He was born on February 14, 1859, graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Engineering and died at the young age of 37 in 1896. The first Ferris Wheel, built at a cost of $400,000, premiered at the Chicago Columbian Exhibition in 1893, just three years before his death. It had 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and could carry up to 60 people. Upon the fair’s opening, the Ferris wheel carried 38,000 passengers daily, with each trip requiring 10 minutes to complete one full revolutions. Each rider was treated to two turns.

The first Ferris wheel carried over 2.5 million people, grossing 1.25 million in sales over the course of its 13 year history. It was demolished in 1906.

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