# 3182e - 1998 32c Celebrate the Century - 1900s: St. Louis World Fair
1998 32¢ St. Louis World’s Fair
Celebrate the Century – 1900s
City: Washington, DC
Quantity: 12,533,333
Printed By: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd
Printing Method: Lithographed
Perforations: 11 ½
Color: Multicolored
Premiere Of The First Ferris Wheel
The planners behind the exposition saw it as their chance to put America’s engineering talent on display for the world to see. Construction Chief Daniel Burnham wanted his architects and engineers to come up with something even better than the Eiffel Tower, which had wowed visitors to the 1889 World’s Fair.
By the time the fair opened on May 1, 1893, the wheel was still under construction. Visitors to the fair guessed at what it might be. What they saw was a giant wheel reaching 264 feet tall. Its steel structure weighed hundreds of thousands of pounds. And its 90,000-pound axle was the largest hollow forging ever produced at the time.
The wheel was finally ready on June 21, 1893. That day George Ferris addressed the crowd of excited visitors and announced that he “had gotten the wheels out of his head and made them a living reality.” Shortly after his speech, the steam-powered wheel began to turn and the first riders were admitted. It was unlike anything the people of the day had experienced. For 50¢, twice the cost of admission to the fair, a person could experience Ferris’ Great Wheel.
1998 32¢ St. Louis World’s Fair
Celebrate the Century – 1900s
City: Washington, DC
Quantity: 12,533,333
Printed By: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd
Printing Method: Lithographed
Perforations: 11 ½
Color: Multicolored
Premiere Of The First Ferris Wheel
The planners behind the exposition saw it as their chance to put America’s engineering talent on display for the world to see. Construction Chief Daniel Burnham wanted his architects and engineers to come up with something even better than the Eiffel Tower, which had wowed visitors to the 1889 World’s Fair.
By the time the fair opened on May 1, 1893, the wheel was still under construction. Visitors to the fair guessed at what it might be. What they saw was a giant wheel reaching 264 feet tall. Its steel structure weighed hundreds of thousands of pounds. And its 90,000-pound axle was the largest hollow forging ever produced at the time.
The wheel was finally ready on June 21, 1893. That day George Ferris addressed the crowd of excited visitors and announced that he “had gotten the wheels out of his head and made them a living reality.” Shortly after his speech, the steam-powered wheel began to turn and the first riders were admitted. It was unlike anything the people of the day had experienced. For 50¢, twice the cost of admission to the fair, a person could experience Ferris’ Great Wheel.