What does the Eiffel Tower have to do with Ferris Wheels?

How is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, connected to Chicago, Illinois? The 1889 and 1893 World's Fairs, of course!

After Paris hosted their spectacular fair in 1889, exhibiting their elegant wrought iron structure known as the Eiffel Tower, Chicago won the bid to hold the next fair.

They were told, "Make no small plans."

Somehow, they had to answer the feat accomplished in Paris. Should they build a taller structure? No, it needed to be the same thing, only different. Very different.

George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., a 33-year-old engineer from Pittsburgh, finally answered the challenge with inventing a monstrous wheel that proved the saving attraction at the nearly bankrupt Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The fair turned into a rousing success, thanks in no small part to the "Ferris Wheel" that could hold up to 2,000 riders at a time.

You can experience even more of that fantastic fair in my novel, Traitors (Book 2 in the Choctaw Tribune series). 

What did Chicago and Paris have to do with me this month? Well, in my "hanging on to the wing" cheap flight for my France research trip for the Choctaw Code Talkers of World War I, my layovers from Dallas/Fort Worth included a change in Chicago, then Dublin and finally, you guessed it, Paris. Be sure to join me on my author newsletter to hear the latest news on the code talker novel. (You'll also get a free e-copy of Touch My Tears. Click here.)

If you want to track me through Facebook live videos filled with more fun historical facts about Choctaws and world history, be sure to "Like" my author Facebook page.