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{{About|the Chicago World's Fair transporter bridge||Skyride (disambiguation){{!}}Skyride}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

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{{Infobox Bridge
 | bridge_name       = [[File:CoP-photo.jpg|300px]]
 | official_name     = Century of Progress Exhibition Sky-Ride
 | locale            = [[Chicago]], Illinois
 | carries           = fairgoers in suspended 36 passenger cars
 | crosses           = [[Century of Progress]] exhibition grounds, downtown Chicago
 | open              = February 2, 1933
 | closed            = November 1934
 | design            = [[Transporter bridge|Transporter Bridge]]
 | mainspan          = {{convert|1850|ft|m|abbr=on}} (some sources say 2000 ft)
|length=3200 ft (975 m) including 2 600 ft (182 m) backstays
 | clearance         = {{convert|628|ft|m|abbr=on}} high towers
 | below             = {{convert|190|ft|m|abbr=on}} above fairgrounds
 | coordinates       = {{coord|41.860916|-87.611525|display=inline,title}}
}}

The '''Sky Ride''' was an [[amusement ride|attraction]] built for the [[Century of Progress]] 1933  [[World's Fair]] in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]. It was a [[transporter bridge]] (with a design similar to an [[aerial tramway]] or [[gondola lift]]) designed by the bridge engineering firm [[David B. Steinman#Robinson & Steinman|Robinson & Steinman]] that ferried people across the lagoon, Burnham Harbor, in the center of the fair. It was located near [[Northerly Island]], but was demolished after the Fair, having carried 4.5 million passengers. The Sky Ride had a {{convert|1,850|ft|m|adj=on}} span and two {{convert|628|ft|m|adj=on}} tall towers, making it the most prominent structure at the fair. Suspended from the span, {{convert|215|ft|m}} above the ground, were rocket-shaped cars, each carrying 36 passengers.

==History==
[[File:Sky RideTower.png|left|thumb|240px|Closeup of inland tower, showing 200 ft landing and observation deck at top. A "rocket car" is visible at right]]

[[Century of Progress|The Century of Progress Exposition]] committee sought an exciting signature attraction, one that would be remembered like the [[Eiffel Tower]] from the [[1889 World's Fair|1889 Paris World's Fair]] or the [[Ferris wheel]] of the [[World's Columbian Exposition|1893 Chicago World's Fair]].<ref>{{cite book | last1=Lohr|first1=Lenox Riley| title=Fair Management: The Story of A Century of Progress Exposition| url=https://archive.org/details/fairmanagement00lohrrich| access-date=November 15, 2009| year=1952| publisher=Cuneo Press| location=Chicago| pages=[https://archive.org/details/fairmanagement00lohrrich/page/172 172]–173}}</ref> One proposal under consideration, to be underwritten by [[Montgomery Ward]], was called the Tower of Water and Light—a 250-foot-tall tower with water flowing down the outside and elevators traveling to observation platforms. When the Montgomery Ward company backed out of its offer to finance the tower, the commission considered the Sky Ride.<ref name=Findling67>[[#Findling1994|Findling 1994]], p. 67.</ref>

The Sky Ride, an idea suggested by an engineer named William L. Hamilton, would span the grounds and be relatively cheap to build.<ref name=Findling67 /> The ride was built in the span of six months prior to the fair's opening, by a consortium of five companies: [[Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company]], [[Inland Steel Company]], [[John Roebling|John Roebling and Sons]], [[Mississippi Valley Structural Steel]] and [[Otis Elevator Company|Otis Elevator]] at a cost of about $1 million.

The ride had a capacity of 5,000 people per hour. It was reported that the attraction had 2,616,389 riders in 1933 and a total of about 4.5 million during the course of the fair. At the time of construction the span between towers was one of the longest in the world, allegedly exceeded in span only by the [[George Washington Bridge]], and the towers were higher than any of the [[skyscrapers in Chicago]]. It was reported that it contained 2,000 tons of [[steel]], {{convert|100|mi|km}} of cabling and that the cableway had a breaking strength of 220,000 pounds per square inch.

The Sky Ride was demolished at the conclusion of the fair. The west tower was brought down using 120 pounds of [[dynamite]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Windsor| first=H. H. Jr.|date=August 1935| title=Engineers Topple Skyride Inches from Mark| journal=[[Popular Mechanics]]|volume=64| issue=2| page=167|publisher=Popular Mechanics Co.| location=Chicago|issn=0032-4558| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tt4DAAAAMBAJ&q=engineers%20topple&pg=PA167| format=Google books| access-date=September 21, 2011}}</ref> The east tower was toppled on August 29, 1935, using 1,500 pounds of [[thermite]] charges to melt ten-foot sections near the bottom of two of the legs.<ref>[[#Findling1994|Findling 1994]], p. 150.</ref> When the thermite was fired, the two legs collapsed and the tower fell on its side.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Windsor| first=H. H. Jr.|date=November 1935| title=Skyride Tower Felled by Melting Steel Legs| journal=[[Popular Mechanics]]|volume=64| issue=5| page=657|publisher=Popular Mechanics Co.| location=Chicago|issn=0032-4558| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xd0DAAAAMBAJ&q=skyride%20tower&pg=PA657| format=Google books| access-date=September 21, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Panorama of A Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933.jpg|center|thumb|800px|Panorama, showing Sky Ride to the left]]

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==Design==
[[File:200 Foot Level Sky Ride, 600 Feet High To Top, Century Of Progress (NBY 415975).jpg|thumb|Sky Ride postcard]]

The Sky Ride consisted of two towers, each {{convert|628|ft|m}} high, spaced {{convert|1850|ft|m}} apart. Each tower had four [[elevator]]s with a 30-person capacity. Fair goers could take a trip across from one tower to the other at the {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} level, or take the elevator farther up to the [[observation deck]]s at the top of the tower. There were two decks per tower and [[Bausch and Lomb]] supplied the 12 coin-operated telescopes on the tower observation decks. If they chose to take a trip across, they rode in one of 12 double-decked "rocket cars" carried across from one tower to the other. Each car emitted [[steam]] intended to resemble a "tail" or rocket exhaust, as it traveled across the wires. At night, lights were focused on the cars as they traveled between the towers, and lights were also attached to the bottom of the elevators.

The [[transporter bridge]]  is more common in Europe. In the United States, only two transporter bridges were ever built: the [[Aerial Lift Bridge]] in [[Duluth, Minnesota]] in 1905, and the Sky Ride. Due to capacity constraints, the Duluth bridge was converted from a transporter bridge to a more conventional [[vertical lift bridge]] with a raisable through truss span in 1930. Thus, the count of transporter bridges existing at a given time in the US never exceeded 1, and after November 1934, stands at zero again.

==Brochure==
The following brochure text <ref>Brochure text is taken from the ''Official Guide Book Of The Fair, 1933'', Published by A Century Of Progress, Sourced from this [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/8431/skyride.html Geocities] page. With the demise of Geocities, reference the [[Internet Archive]]  [https://web.archive.org/web/20010813155305/http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/8431/skyride.html Aug 13, 2001] version.</ref> gives a feel for the dramatic prose of the day.

{| style="margin: 3em; border: #99B3FF solid 1px;"
|-
|''Two towers stand like giant sentinels, {{convert|1850|ft|m}} apart, seeming to guard the Hall of Science on the Mainland, and the Hall of Social Science across the Lagoon—support of the spectacular Sky-Ride, great thrill feature of A Century of Progress. Back in 1893, it was the monster Ferris Wheel that everybody talked about, and everybody rode. Today, striking example of the progress of science even in thrill makers, is this suspension bridge principle applied to an entertainment feature—and perhaps the near solution of some problems of overhead transportation.''

''They are higher than any building in Chicago, these two strong steel towers, imbedded in cement. Six hundred and twenty-eight feet they rise into the skies, with observation floors atop them. On a {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} level the rocket cars offer you a beautiful and, mayhap, thrilling ride across the lagoon.''
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[Lattice tower]]
*[[Aerial tramway]]
*[[Transporter bridge]]

==Notes==
<references />

==References==
* {{cite web| url =http://www.niederelbe.de/FAEHRE/chicago.htm| title =Schwebefähren Gestern| first =Jochen| last =Bölsche<!-- Author's name available at http://www.niederelbe.de/FAEHRE/f-impressum.htm -->| work =Die Welt der Schwebefähren (The World of Aerial Ferries)| language =de|trans-title=Ferries of Yesterdsay|ref=Bolsche}}
*{{cite book | last1=Findling| first1=John E.| title=Chicago's great world's fairs| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXy7AAAAIAAJ| format=Google books| year=1994| publisher=Manchester University Press| location=Manchester, UK| isbn=978-0-7190-3630-9|ref=Findling1994}}
* [http://www.niederelbe.de/FAEHRE/chicago.htm niederelbe.de] Skyride information (in German)
* [http://www.earthstation9.com/index.html?1933_chi.htm Earth Station 9] many facts and figures taken from this source (but corroborated at other sources)
* [http://www.niederelbe.de/FAEHRE/f-international.htm niederelb.de international] Transporter bridge information, see also the [[Transporter bridge]] article.
* [http://www.chipublib.org/008subject/012special/cop.html Chicago Public Library ]  Century of Progress materials
* [http://www.worldfairs.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=187 www.worldfairs.info forum] (in French) with some very clear pictures of the cars, cabling, towers and other details
*{{cite journal| last=Havlik| first=Robert J.| year=1992| title=The Chicago Century of Progress Sky-Ride 1932-1935| journal=Image File: A Journal from the Curt Teich Postcard Archives| volume=7| issue=1| pages=3–6| publisher=Lake County Museum| location=Wauconda, IL| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_5UAAAAMAAJ| format=Google books (snippet view)|ref=Havlik1992}}
* {{cite journal| first =H. W.| last =Magee|date=May 1933| title =Aerial ferries, the bridges of the future| journal =[[Popular Mechanics]]| volume =59| issue =5| pages =666–669 and 130A-131A| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=J-IDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA666| format =Google books| access-date =November 13, 2009|ref=Magee1933}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Troyano| first1=Leonardo Fernández| title=Bridge Engineering: a global perspective|  url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0u5G8E3uPUAC| format=Google books| year=2003| publisher=Thomas Telford| location=London| isbn=978-0-7277-3215-6| page=740}}
*Kretschmer, Winfried Geschichte der Weltausstellungen (1st edition), Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt (Germany), {{ISBN|3-593-36273-2}}, 1999; pp.&nbsp;192.
*Ratigan, William  (1959) Highways Over Broad Waters, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; pp.&nbsp;224–227. ASIN B0007IY0OC

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517090407/http://www.bridgepix.com/bridgeblog/?p=26 BridgePix.com blog entry showing colored postcard view]
*[http://www.niederelbe.de/FAEHRE/chic-map.jpg Postcard image] from niederelbe.de
*[http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=sky+ride+image&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all&submit=search+all+collections Image Search] from SAIC ([[School of the Art Institute of Chicago]])

[[Category:Bridges completed in 1933]]
[[Category:Bridges in Chicago]]
[[Category:History of Chicago]]
[[Category:Transporter bridges]]
[[Category:Century of Progress]]
[[Category:Steel bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:Moveable bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:1933 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:1934 disestablishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:World's fair architecture in Chicago]]