National Register Listing

Sears-Ferris House

a.k.a. Ferris, G.W.G., House

311 W. Third St., Carson City (Independent City), NV

The significance is well described by S. Allen Chambers, Jr., Architectural Historian, in his report to the Historic American Buildings Survey published in "The Architecture of Carson City, Nevada". We quote directly from his report:

"George Washington Gale Ferris, Sr. came to Nevada with his family from Galesburg, Illinois in 1864. According to tradition he, Mrs. Gale and their children crossed the plains in a carriage, not in a covered wagon. The family settled first at a farm in Carson Valley. In addition to the usual farm products, Ferris planted trees of many varieties, to the extent that he was singled out for particular mention in the following passages from Thompson and West's History of Nevada:

"A prominent feature of the agriculture of 1871-72 was the attempt, or the beginning of planting and raising shade, ornamental and forest trees. The mnost prominent man in connection with this was G.W.G. Ferris, who imported a great number of eastern forest trees, such as hickory, black walnut, chestnut, etc."

"What is home without fruit trees - apple, pear or orange, or grapevines, as the case may be? He who plants fruit trees is intending to stay. In Ormsby County were 125 walnut trees, 125 elms, 300 box-elder, 1,000 white maples, presumably the property of G.W.G. Ferris, who had manifested a commendable enterprise in the planting."

The Ferris family remained in Carson Valley for several years but by 1869 had moved to Carson City. The 1868-69 Nevada Directory shows that Mr. Ferris was still primarily interested in agriculture in listing the occupant of the house at 3rd and Division Streets as "Ferris, George W., farmer".

George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., who was to become the most prominent figure associated with the house, was a young boy when the family moved to town. He was born in Galesburg on February 14, 1859, came with the family to Nevada in 1864 and after 1869, spent his youthful years in the house herein discussed. He later graduated from a military academy in Oakland, California, and 1881 graduated in engineering from Rensaelaer Polytechnic Institute.

After a short period in which he was associated with railroad and coal interests in West Virginia, he began to become primarily involved in bridge building. He also became expert in testing and inspecting structural steel and organized the firm of G.W.G. Ferris and Co. of Pittsburgh, to conduct such work in shops and foundries throughout the country.

While the value of Ferris' contributions in these fields is undisputed, it was a more dramatic work that made his name become a household word.

In 1892, Daniel M. Burnham gave a challenge to American engineers. He asked that they produce something for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 which would rival the Eiffel Tower, erected for the Paris Exposition. Ferris rose to the occasion with his gigantic wheel. The wheel cost $390,000 and took some six months to fabricate. It was built in Pittsburgh, taken down, and reassembled in Chicago. Although Ferris had received little encouragement on his invention, it soon became one of the major attractions at the fair.

Literally and figuratively, Ferris' wheel lived on after him. The original wheel was taken down after the Chicago fair, and was erected again nine years later for the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. It was then dismantled, and the parts sold for scrap. Its progeny, though usually much smaller than the parent, are found in countless fairs, carnivals, and circuses throughout this country and abroad.

Family tradition has it that Ferris conceived the idea of his wheel from his early days in Nevada, where he would watch the waterwheels on the Carson River which were used to crush the ore from Virgina City.

In 1890, the elder Ferris, who had moved to California, sold the house, (and all of Block 28) to his daughter, Mary Ferris Ardery. Mrs. Ardery, who lived in the house until the early 1920's, was married to Alexander M. Ardery on September 29, 1880. Ardery, born in New York State in 1850, had come west in 1861 with his parents. In 1870, he was employed by the Virginia and Truckee Railroad as a telegraph operator and assistant dispatcher. In 1881, he became chief dispatcher, and in August 1883, Master of Transportation. In 1909, he became Vice-President and General Manager, replacing Henry M. Yerington, who had died the previous month (see HABS NO. NEV-13-18, H.M. Yerington House). After his death, his widow continued to live in the house until 1922, when it passed out of the hands of the Ferris family.

The original "Ferris Wheel" was 250 feet tall, had thirty-six cars, each holding some forty passengers, and took twenty minutes to make a full revolution. The daring of its design, the precision of the machine work involved in its construction, and the accuracy of its movements, as well as its huge size, won for the wheel the admiration of engineers and the hearty approval of fairgoers.

Ferris returned to Pittsburgh from the Fair, and died there in 1896 at the age of thirty-seven. He was survived by his wife, Margaret Beatty."

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.