48 Interesting Bits of Trivia to Impress Your Friends With

Can you imagine believing in a future invention so much that you build it into your building before it even exists? That’s what happened in 1853. Passenger elevators hadn’t really become a thing yet, but Elisha Otis had just demonstrated his new system for keeping such an elevator safe.

Peter Cooper believed in the concept so much that he had an elevator installed in the Cooper Union Foundation building in New York City. However, there was a wrinkle in his plan: he made the shaft cylindrical because he was confident that elevators would be cylindrical. Otis ended up having to design a special elevator for the building.