The Grande Roue de Paris was a huge 100 meter(328 ft) Ferris Wheel built in Paris for the Exposition Universelle
world exhibition in 1900. It was the tallest wheel in the world at the time of its opening. It was another 90 years
before a taller wheel was built, the 107.5 meter(353 ft) Cosmo Clock 21, in Japan.
Théodore Vienne, the industrialist and founder of the Paris–Roubaix cycle race, was both owner and director
of the Grande Roue de Paris. At the end of WW I France was pretty beat up, and the Ferris Wheel was the
least of their concerns, so it was dismantled in 1920.
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Rag-and-bone merchants used the pods as huts for their businesses. They later became second-hand shops,
then the antique trade that is found on the wheel site, now known as the Swiss Village. The remains of
the wheel were finally sent for scrap in 1937. Probably for WW II materials.
Repurposing was a way of life for previous generations, like in San Diego...
Ah crap, I misspelled san Diego in the caption. Damn cheap help.
