George Washington Gale Ferris
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (February 14, 1859 - November 22, 1896) was born in Galesburg, Illinois. He is most well known for inventing the Ferris Wheel, constructed for the World's Columbian Exposition in an attempt to create something as impressive as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
His family moved to Carson City, Nevada when Ferris was five years old. The family house in Carson City is on the historic tour list. His family later relocated to California, and Ferris attended high school in Oakland, California. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was a Charter Member of the Chi Phi Fraternity, in the class of 1881 with a degree in Civil Engineering. After that, he began a career in the railroad industry and was interested in bridge building. He founded a company, G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to test and inspect metals for railroads and bridge builders.
News of the World Columbian Exhibition of 1893, in Chicago, drew Ferris to the city. His goal was to create an engineering marvel that would surpass the Eiffel Tower, the greatest structure of the Paris Exhibition of 1889. The planners wanted something "original, daring and unique." Ferris responded with a proposed wheel from which visitors would be able to view the entire exhibition. Ferris' project was so grandiose, he was quickly dismissed as unrealistic.
Ferris persisted, he returned in a few weeks with several respectable endorsements from established engineers, and the committee agreed to allow construction to begin. Most convincingly, he had recruited several local investors to cover the $400,000 cost of construction.
The wheel became an instant success when the fair opened. However, Ferris did not live long after the fair closed. His idea was stolen and the fair operators claimed most of the $750,000 profits generated from the wheel.
George W.G. Ferris is a member of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Alumni Hall of Fame, inducted in September 1998
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