THE very first Ferris wheel in the world stood at the Chicago World’s Fair, in 1893. Invented by George Ferris who had learned how to build bridges at the polytechnic school of Steven van Rensselaer and Margreet Schuyler in Troy, NY. Measuring 264 feet high, holding 36 cars the size of a train wagon, each with 40 swivel seats and room for 60 men/women, total capacity 2160 passengers. For a 20-minute double ride, they paid 50 cents. Each day, some 38,000 people took the ride.
At the Chicago Fair, Van Houten Chocola recreated Franeker’s town hall, the “Dutch Cocoa House”. There was also an exhibition area with 332 paintings by Dutch Masters. It were the days of what historians label Holland Mania, all the rage when America was rediscovering its Dutch origins.
The foundation of the Ferris Wheel, like the old city of Amsterdam, was built on wooden piles.
