The Big Wheel of Paris was the largest Ferris Wheel in the world in the early 1900s, standing 328 feet high. The Ferris Wheel, however, was "denuded of all its passenger cars, which are now to be used as the homes of French families returned to the devastated regions" after World War I, The Times photo caption reported on April 3, 1921.

The 100-meter Ferris Wheel had passenger cars the size of trucks when it made its debut at the 1900 World's Fair (l'Exposition Universelle) in Paris. Twenty years later, the wheel was disassembled and scrapped. While many pods were used as homes, some were used by struggling merchants to carry on their trade after the war.

The first Ferris Wheel ever was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It stood 264 feet tall. Those early Ferris Wheels, gigantic and awe-inspiring at their time, are dwarfed by today's current world record holder for size, the 500-foot High Roller in Las Vegas.