This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
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For details. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people.
If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little? NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Mm-hmm. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. Ferris wheels can be found around the world today. But for this American engineer, it wasn't an easy path. He was our own Greg Hengler with the story.
It was only 10 months until the next World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. But everyone was still talking about the star attraction at the last World's Fair. Here's Paul DeRica, Director of Exhibitions at the Chicago History Museum. The Chicago World's Fair wasn't the first World's Fair. But the biggest rival to what they were planning to do in Chicago was a World's Fair that had been held in Paris in 1889.
And we still remember that fair today because its most lasting monument, the Eiffel Tower, was created for it.
So when people began to think about holding the fair here in Chicago, they needed something that could out-Eiffel Eiffel. France's Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest building. Completed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower stood at 986 feet. surpassing America's Washington Monument to become the world's tallest man-made structure. Here's George Ferris scholar.
Derwin Rushing. The French had just designed and built the Eiffel Tower. And that was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Chicago was having basically the Chicago World's Fair, and it was to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing on America. And they were looking for something to challenge the Eiffel Tower.
A nationwide contest was announced. Ideas poured in from around the country. What a lot of people were responding with were designs that were very similar. We'll just build a bigger tower than the Eiffel Tower. But it was George Washington Gail Ferris who had the idea to make something on a similar scale.
but allow it to move. George Washington Ferris had already designed some of the country's biggest bridges, tunnels, and roads. George had seen the Eiffel Tower's elegant steel frame rise ten stories high with his own eyes. George Eiffel grew up near the shore of Nevada's Carson River and was inspired by the turning water wheel. He often dreamed of shrinking to the size of his toy soldiers and riding in one of the wooden buckets.
He was born in Galesburg, Illinois. and moved to Pittsburgh because Carnegie was making steel here. And he was a bridge builder, that is, Ferris was, and he was already a well-respected bridge builder. Back at his drawing board in Pittsburgh, he and his engineering partner William Grinnell measured and remeasured. a mistake of even an inch could bring their invention crashing down.
George arrived in Chicago and made his case to the construction planners of the fair. And what's interesting is initially the fair is very receptive to the idea and they basically grant him a concession to move forward with it. But then as the winter of 1892 is unfolding, the fair's planners begin to get cold feet. They think, on the one hand, this is going to be very, very expensive. How are they going to finance it?
And then, secondly, will it actually work? The judges could not decide. Fall turned to winter as they dilly dallied. In only four months the fair would open, and it still had no star attraction. Finally, desperate, they agreed to give George's far-fetched idea a try, but they would not give him one penny for the materials to build it.
George went from bank to bank asking for help. But when he began describing his invention, Lenders laughed at him. George finally decided to use his own savings and convinced a few wealthy investors to join him. Still short of money, he boldly went ahead and ordered the parts he needed from a dozen different steel mills. Ferris was 32 years old when he designed the wheel.
He designed it in a Chicago chop house and he designed it on a napkin, and it went from napkin to reality in just about a year. In January 1893, George's construction crew began to work on the foundation. It was one of the most brutally cold winters in Chicago history. The frozen tundra is three feet deep. George ordered his crew to dynamite the icy earth.
But what they found underneath was scarier still. 20 feet of quicksand. George and his workers kept digging. Finally, 35 feet down, they hit solid ground. They planted two huge steel towers deep into the earth, bolted them to crossbars of steel, and poured in cement to hold it all in place.
Then they carefully lowered a seventy ton axle between them. As time grew shorter, freight trains from all over the country chugged onto the fairgrounds, loaded with more than 100,000 parts. Workers hurried to fit all the pieces together like a giant Lego toy. Finally, with only two months left, the last section was bolted into place. In there stood a perfect circle, 834 feet in circumference, rising 264 feet above the ground, and designed to move with the precision of the smallest watch.
The crew worked day and night to attach the passenger cars. Each the size of a train car with enormous picture windows and 40 velvet seats. Ferris wheels today, they could seat maybe about two people or four people, but these were immense cars that could fit up to 60 people. It's 264 feet tall, and the axle itself was the largest single piece of steel made at that time, and it was 10 tons. There were 36 cars.
They were glass enclosed. They could accommodate 60 people. 40 people sitting, 20 people standing.
So over 2,100 people would be in Ferris' wheel. On June 21st, 1893, opening day finally arrived. two thousand people gathered as flags waved. Ferris took the stage and dedicated his wheel to the noble profession of engineering. Then George's wife presented him with a beautiful golden whistle.
George and his wife stepped proudly into car number one. George blew the golden whistle, and 2,000 tons of steel rose above the city of Chicago. All summer, visitors from around the world traveled to Chicago World's Fair. They got to see new inventions like Wrigley's chewing gum, cracker jacks. and everything from the dishwasher to the electric chair.
but the star of the show was the Ferris Wheel. It didn't matter whether one was a senator, a farmer, a boy or a girl. Everyone wanted to take a spin on the magnificent wheel. And I think part of it was because that was before the Wright brothers had taken the flight at Kitty Hawk yet.
So people hadn't ever been that high. They're up, you know, 264 feet. They're on top of the city of Chicago. They've got Lake Michigan right to the east. I mean, it must have been a beautiful sight.
And certainly for that time and that place, it was really heights that people had never been, quite literally. At night, George's Ferris wheel became a magical glowing circle with 3,000 electric light bulbs. Another brand new invention. It took 20 minutes for a single rotation around the wheel, and if you paid the 50 cents fee to ride the wheel, you would get two rotations, so it'd be about a 40-minute experience. On October 26, 1893, the Chicago World's Fair was over.
George Ferris's wheel revolved more than 10,000 times, withstood gale-force winds and storms, and did not need one repair. George had called his creation a monster wheel. but his investors renamed it after its inventor. The Ferris wheel. Visitors returned to their homes to tell the story of the world's greatest ride, and before long copies of the Ferris Wheel began popping up around the country.
In 1894, the next Ferris Wheel appeared in California on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Lit up at night, it was the first landmark seen by ships finding their way home. Today, Ferris wheels are the most familiar and beloved carnival ride at state fairs and amusement parks. which would not have surprised George Ferris, who said I determined that the engineering profession should be represented by something that would stand as a monument. George Ferris would not be surprised at all about the popularity of his invention.
He had complete Faith in himself, he knew it would work. He would probably say, as he kind of surveyed the world and looked at things like the Wonder Wheel and Coney Island or the London Eye, is like, see, I told you so. This is a great attraction. And a terrific job on the production, editing, writing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. The story of George Washington Gail Ferris.
I never knew it. And the story behind the story of so many things. That's what we do here on our American Stories. And it was a basic bet, really. We wanted to top what had happened in France with the Eiffel Tower.
And you needed a great engineer to do that, but also an imaginative one. And what a story we heard about this magnificent contraption, this magnificent device. That glowed in the dark practically and took people to heights they'd never been to before. Again, this is before the Wright brothers. The 1893 World's Fair would be remembered for the Ferris wheel.
And of course, George Washington Gale Ferris had named this contraption the Monster Wheel. But the real name stuck, the story of the Ferris wheel. Here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists. Patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. It's America's 250th, but you deserve some presents too. Simon Malls, mills, and premium outlets have can't-miss sales July 3rd to 5th. Join Simon Plus, our new rewards program, for free and get 2.5 times the points in addition to extra savings, cash back, and offers that also work at shopsimon.com.
Grab the fam, head to a Simon Center, and make it a day for the books. It's a celebration thing. Sign up today at SimonPlus.com. Rewards program terms apply. See SimonPlus.com for details.
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Mm-hmm.
