{Of Ferris Wheels And The Eli Bridge Co.}
by Stu Fliege

Jacksonville's Eli Bridge Co. has been in business for almost a century. In all of those years, it has built precisely one bridge, and it's not much of bridge at that. Located in While Hall in Green County, the bridge is a relatively small concrete structure over an intermittent stream.

That's because Eli Bridge Co. doesn't build bridges. It builds wheels--big wheels-- Big Eli Wheels, the company's brand name for Ferris wheels. Over the years, it has shipped 1,300 Big Eli Wheels all over the world.

Big Eli Wheels were the brainchild of William Sullivan, a resident of Roodhouse, 20 miles south of Jacksonville. Possessed by an incurable urge to build things, Sullivan became a bridge builder. An unfortunate series of circumstances, however, along with a prolonged illness, forced him to seek another vocation, and he became a hardware salesman.

While in Chicago on business, Sullivan visited the great 1893 Columbian Exposition. This experience determined his life's goal and changed the face of the carnival midway worldwide.

Sullivan was captivated by the giant Ferris wheel. When he asked permission to examine the wheel, he was told that if he bought a ticket, he could examine the wheel to his heart's content. He spent hours studying the structure, including the driving mechanism, suspension, and the giant axle.

The Columbian Exposition's Ferris wheel was Chicago's answer to the Eiffel Tower, erected for the previous World's Fair in Paris three years earlier. The man who came up with the idea of a giant wheel carrying passengers high in the sky was George Washington Gale Ferris, another Illinoisan.

Born in Galesburg, Ferris was considered to be somewhat of a dreamer. For some reason, the movement of waterwheels fascinated the young lad. Exhibiting considerable mechanical ability, Ferris graduated from a polytechnic institute as a tunnel and trestle engineer. He helped design and build bridges and formed a firm that experimented with new uses for structural steel.

From the beginning, Ferris knew exactly what design the enormous passenger wheel would assume and what it would take to get it built. Ferris was not without his detractors, however, as many engineers of the day declared the plans for the giant wheel to be foolish and unworkable. Yet, Ferris persisted, acquired, financial backing, and sold his idea to the Columbian Exposition authorities.

Nine steel mills produced the 2,200 tons of metal required. Five factories were kept busy, forging the many different parts, and 175 freight cars were needed to haul the parts to the exposition grounds. Four huge towers anchored in 35 feet of concrete supported the massive axle.

Upon completion, Ferris' giant wheel with 36 passenger cars that could hold up to 40 people each loomed as high as a 26-story building. Viewed from a distance, it appeared fragile and spindly, but was solid and stable. It once withstood winds reported in excess of 100 mph.

The Ferris wheel was an outstanding success for the Chicago fair. William Sullivan was one of almost 1.5 million people who paid 50 cents for two revolutions that took 25 minutes. Subsequent efforts to make the wheel profitable, however, proved unsuccessful, and George Ferris died penniless four years after the fair.

His great wheel made its final appearance at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, after which it was dynamited to the ground and old for scrap. According to legend, the axle was too large to remove, so it was buried and remains under a St. Louis golf course.

The giant Ferris wheel that Sullivan had seen in Chicago captured his imagination. He returned to Roodhouse and informed his wife that he was going to deign and build "a portable Ferris wheel" -- that is, one that could easily be dismantled and moved from fair to fair.

In spring 1900, Sullivan had his first Big Eli in operation. It was 45 feet high, powered by a small gasoline engine and held 12 buggy seats. On its first day, Big Eli brought in only $5.56, but shortly thereafter returned $83 in one day.

Other wheels followed, each with necessary improvements, including use of interchangeable parts. Most importantly, Sullivan found that he could turn a regular profit from the use of the wheels at fairs and carnivals.

When Sullivan decided the time had come to mass-produce his Big Elis in 1906, he established the Eli Bridge Co. Because he required financial backing, he included shareholders in his company who were not convinced that a business could be maintained making Ferris wheels. In case of failure, they thought that Sullivan could always resort to building bridges, hence the inclusion of the word "bridge."

For some reason, Sullivan liked the saying "Get there, Eli!." a popular expression that meant something like "Hurry up and get it done!" The result was a unique name for a plant that makes Ferris wheels, or as the company refers to them, Big Eli Wheels.

As the company grew, the plant at Roodhouse was expanded 17 times. In 1919, the present plant in Jacksonville was built to house the ever-growing business. Different models of Big Elis were developed, from a 16-seat Aristocrat model to a small six-seat Baby Eli model.

By 1925, Sullivan had realized the fulfillment of his dream. He turned control of the company over to his son, Lee, who began working in the shop in 1908 and didn't retire until 1968. The leadership of the Eli Bridge Co. has remained in the hands of W. E. Sullivan and his descendants.

In 1954, the company bought out a new carnival ride called the Scramble and in 1997 introduced a modern ride called the Cycloid. The hope of Eli Bridge is that the Cycloid and continuing sales of Big Eli Wheels will enable the company to embark successfully on another century of making people go round in circles.

Stu Fliege is a retired teacher and historian living in Springfield, Illinois. He writes a series of historical articles. Permission to use the article for this site granted by the author.

Reference:
Fliege, Stu. "Of Ferris Wheels and the Eli Bridge Co." Illinois State Journal, July 2000 pp. 11.

Citation:
This article was used with permission from Stu Fliege, , July 2000. Email message.