More than 100,000 parts went into Ferris’ wheel, notably an 89,320-pound axle that had to be hoisted onto two towers 140 feet in the air. Launched on June 21, 1893, it was a glorious success.

On the evening of July 12, 1893, in the hall of a massive new Beaux ... direct democracy of the town meeting. He saw that other parts of the frontier had been colonized by other settlement ...