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History Daily

The First Passenger Elevator

History Daily

History Daily

History

4.42.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

March 23, 1857. Elisha Otis installs the first commercial passenger elevator in New York, setting the stage for the modern skyscraper.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

There are times in life when you just have to wait and see.

0:03.5

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0:08.2

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0:12.3

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0:16.8

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0:24.8

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0:44.5

It's May 1854 at the World's Fair in New York City. Standing on an elevator platform hoisted 30 feet into the air, Elisha Otis waves his top hat above

0:50.1

his head and calls out for the crowd's attention.

0:53.1

But hardly anyone looks around.

0:55.0

Elevators are far from the most exciting thing in the hole.

0:58.0

The exhibition of the industry of all nations is America's chance to demonstrate its ingenuity.

1:03.0

Inventors and industrialists from across the country have gathered here to show off their latest contraptions,

1:09.0

and an elevator is nothing to write home about.

1:11.5

Hoists and pulleys are ancient technology. But there is something special about Isha's elevator,

1:17.2

and he's about to reveal it to the crown. He grabs hold of the side of the platform to steady himself

1:22.4

and shouts out a signal. Above the hoist, someone steps out onto a scaffold, brandishing an axe. A spectator

1:30.2

cries out a warning, but Elijah looks on calmly as the man with the axe swings and slices

1:35.7

through the elevator's cable with a single blow. People in the crowd scream, expecting Elijah

1:42.4

to fall to his death victim to an axe-wielding madman.

1:46.4

But after a half-second of freefall, Elisha's platform jolts to a stop just as he knew it would.

1:53.0

With a flourish, Elish Elisha gestures to the hoist above his head, and over the applause, he explains

...

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