Saturday, April 2, 2016

April 2, 1900 -- Ferris Wheel Sold for Scrap


April 2, 1900 -- Mr. L. V. Rice, the receiver in charge of the Ferris wheel that made its debut at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, asks the Circuit Court for permission to begin taking down the wheel so that its 2,200 tons of iron and steel may be sold for scrap. After the fair concluded in October, 1893, the wheel was moved north to Wrightwood and North Clark. Although 1,750,000 people rode the attraction in the six months of the 1893 fair; fewer than 500,000 climbed aboard in the ensuing five years. The Ferris wheel did, however, have one last life. It was moved to St. Louis as part of the World's Fair in
that city, but only survived two more years before it was blown up in 1896. The photo aboveshows the great wheel somewhere close to where Dunlay's on Clark and Floyd's 99 Barbershop stands today.

No comments: