History of Ferris Wheels     One may assume that the Ferris Wheel is named after the person that has invented it, George W. G. Ferris to be exact, but actually he wasn't the inventor but rather innovator. According to Klasey's article "Who Invented the Ferris Wheel?", there are evidences that suggest a vertical wheel in which people may ride as it spun has been in use since the seventeenth century. An English traveler named Peter Mundy has wrote about a wheel in which around ten people can ride along its edges in a swing, operated by a hand crank. Such rides were common during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1849, New York State Fair had rides called the "Rotary Swing" and in 1891, Atlantic City, New Jersey, there were rides called the "Roudabout."     If there were very similar devices already in use, why did George W. G. Ferris's name become the name of the modern Ferris Wheel? George W. G. Ferris was an engineer who proposed to the 1893 Columbian Exposition Planners, the idea of building a giant amusement ride. This ride will cost up to $362,000, feature  30-foot wide, 250-foot diameter steel wheel in which more than 2,100 people can ride. It would shadow the marvel of Paris Exposition's Eiffel Tower. The planners approved of the idea, and the modern Ferris Wheel was made. By the end of the Columbian Exposition, millions of people has ridden on it and it quickly became a engineering marvel which lead to the popularity of the Ferris Wheel today.

Original Ferris Wheel from 1893 Columbian Exposition Provided by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferris-wheel.jpg