(WYTV) — The first Ferris wheel stood 264 feet tall and was the biggest attraction at the World Exposition in Chicago, in June 1893. Is that big? The Giant Wheel at Cedar Point is 145 feet.

Over the course of the event (May 5 until October 31 1893), the wheel carried an average of 38,000 paying customers per day. In fact, the response was rapturous.

When George W. Ferris constructed the world's first Ferris wheel for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, he started a trend (and in a sense, he also helped usher in the modern ...