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Ferris was born on February 14, 1859, in Galesburg, Illinois, the town founded by his namesake, George Washington Gale. His parents were George Washington Gale Ferris Sr. and Martha Edgerton Hyde.[2]He had an older brother named Frederick Hyde who was born in 1843.[3] In 1864, five years after Ferris was born, his family sold their dairy farm and moved to Nevada. For two years, they lived inCarson Valley.
From 1868 to 1890, his father, George Washington Gale Ferris Sr., owned Sears-Ferris House, at 311 W. Third, Carson City, Nevada. Originally built in about 1863 by Gregory A. Sears, apioneer Carson City businessman,[4] the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places for Carson City on February 9, 1979.
Ferris Senior was an agriculturalist/horticulturalist, noteworthyin Carson City's development for much of the city's landscaping during the 1870s, and for importing a large number of the trees from the east that were planted throughout the city.[5].
Ferris leftNevada in 1875 to attend the California Military Academy in Oakland, where he graduated in 1876. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in the class of 1881 with a degreein Civil Engineering. At RPI he was a charter member of the local chapter of Chi Phi Fraternity[6] and a member of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers. He was made a member of the RensselaerPolytechnic Institute Alumni Hall of Fame in 1998.[7]
Ferris began his career in the railroad industry and was interested in bridge building.[7] He founded a company, G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, to test and inspect metals for railroads and bridge builders.
His house at 1318 Arch Street, Central Northside, was added to the list of City of Pittsburgh Designated Historic Structures onJune 28, 2001.
Ferris Wheel



The original 1893 Chicago Ferris Wheel
Main articles: Ferris Wheel and Ferris wheel
News of the World's Columbian Exposition to be held in 1893, in Chicago,...