- Turkish Village - Rob Ketcherside
- Street in Cairo - Rob Ketcherside
- Cyclorama - Rob Ketcherside
- Moorish Palace - Rob Ketcherside
- Algeria and Tunis - Rob Ketcherside
- Vienna Cafe - Rob Ketcherside
- Boarding ramp - Rob Ketcherside
- Can you count all 44 stars? - Rob Ketcherside
- These cars are huge! Look at the people in there. - Steve Moudry
Ferris Wheel
"Ferris Wheel, and Bird's Eye View of Midway." Large photographic print from The White City (As It Was). Photographs by William Henry Jackson. World's Columbian Exposition. 1893.
Digitial Identifier: GN90799d_JWH_006w
Comments and faves
Kisses&Chaos, Rob Ketcherside, Linus Gelber, smaedli, and 33 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Lú_ (49 months ago | reply)
Love the long, narrow boxes in the Ferris wheel.
Rob Ketcherside (49 months ago | reply)
Wonderful, thank you for sharing.
Photo is taken looking south east, with Lake Michigan beyond the hazy horizon. Brooklyn's shot is farther back and more broadside, but taken in the same general direction, south-southeast.
Linus Gelber (49 months ago | reply)
What a wonderful shot. Those riding compartments look like they might be about the size of my apartment.
smaedli (49 months ago | reply)
For those familiar with the University of Chicago, this view would be close to the corner of 59th Street and Ellis Avenue, somewhere around the Classics Building, looking east, southeast.
Frankie Roberto (49 months ago | reply)
Super-cool.
Steve Moudry (49 months ago | reply)
Love this photo. The cars are so huge you can walk around in them. I wish they built a replica at Navy Pier instead of whats there now.
Lú_ (49 months ago | reply)
This photograph is part of the Indicommons.org "across the Commons" feature on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
It would be neat to see then-and-nows of the original locations!
The Field Museum Library (49 months ago | reply)
Great article! I tried to comment at the blog, but I don't think it went through. Anyway, the gist of it is that I still have about 100 WCE images to upload--these first ones were just the ones that I found most visually interesting.
Lú_ (49 months ago | reply)
Oh wow!
Not sure why your comment isn't there - I don't see it in the wait list, either :(
B R A N D (49 months ago | reply)
That wheel was big, even by today's standards.
zyrcster (49 months ago | reply)
Very much looking forward to more photos from the WCE when you folks can get to them. :)
pennylrichardsca (48 months ago | reply)
Paper collage card made with this image:
The Field Museum Library (48 months ago | reply)
Wow, pennylrichardsca, that's gorgeous! Thanks for posting it.
sequin_louis@sbcglobal.net (42 months ago | reply)
The Midway Plaisance still exists on the University of Chicago's grounds. It is actually labeled as such with at least one sign. It is now a tree lined, grass filled lane.
Ferris' Wheel was not actually part of "The White City" being that it was in the Midway Plaisance which was not technically part of the World's Colombian Exposition. It is because of the Midway Plaisance and in particular Ferris' Wheel which made close to 800,000 dollars all by itself that, that this was one of the few World's fairs ever to turn a profit.
juliekaah (41 months ago | reply)
what became of this ferris wheel? does anyone know?
ycsflash (38 months ago | reply)
After the Columbian Expo of 1893, this wheel spent time as an amusement ride in Chicago. After declining interest, it was dismantled and shipped to St. Louis to be part of the Louisiana Purchase Expo of 1904. After the St. Louis Fair, Coney Island in New York considered purchasing it, but that eventually fell through. Sadly, since a new home could not be found for it, it was dynamited and sold for scrap.
The wheel was 260 feet high. It held 36 cars, and each car could hold 60 people, for a total of 2160 people. Cars could be rented out for dinner parties and weddings. To learn more about the St. Louis World's Fair, go to:www.1904worldsfairsociety.org
wiggiewormdog (38 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called brilliant magic, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
wiggiewormdog (38 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Music,Quotes,Lyrics,etc of the World, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
wiggiewormdog (38 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called sad world, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Caesar1956 (14 months ago | reply)
The axle weighed 70 tons, as much as a heavy locomotive, and was the heaviest piece of steel ever forged at the time.