What landmark in Michigan do you see and know you are home? Heading home from a road trip or from the airport it would always be comforting to see the giant tire. I remember sitting in the back of my father’s car waiting with anticipation to see the 83 foot tire. Once I spotted it, I knew it was not much longer until we pulled up to our house.
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ost of you may or may not know that the giant tire was created as a Ferris wheel for the 1964 Worlds Fair in Flushing, Queens, NY. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, the same architectural firm that designed the Empire State Building. It had 24 barrel-shaped gondolas, each carrying u to 4 passengers and could carry up to 96 people at a time.
When the fair ended in 1965. the tire was taken apart and shipped by train to the Motor City. It was reassembled without its passenger cars in 1966 as a static display outside the Uniroyal sales office. Later on the sales office had moved but the tire stayed and became an icon to Detroit’s industrial power.
I had the pleasure of getting to see the inside of the tire with my buddy Alex Atwell from local 4 news. Alex was doing a story on it for Unequally Detroit and he invited me along to snap some photos.
Here is the video that airked on channel 4 u
Here are a few photos I snapped from the day.
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