World Elevator Day: Otis Shares Fun Facts

Elisha Graves Otis shows his first elevator in the Crystal Palace, New York City, 1853. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Dogs, cats, martinis, chocolate ice cream and, of course, elevators! In honor of World (not National) Elevator Day, our friends at Otis shared a few interesting facts:

On March 23, 1857, passengers took the first rides in an Otis elevator at the E.V. Haughwout Department Store in NYC.

Otis moves more than 2 billion people each day — a quarter of the world’s population!

The invention of the elevator made taller buildings and modern cities possible.

The Otis Gen2® elevator revolutionized the industry by replacing steel ropes with flat belts — a huge energy-saving move, too, and still used today.

Smart/connected elevators are next. Today, passengers can remotely call an elevator and mechanics can see, and in some cases even fix, issues before anyone notices a problem.

Most new Otis elevators in North America are manufactured in Florence, South Carolina. The factory — celebrating 10 years this year — is also the first in the industry to be TRUE-certified, recognizing its success in Zero Waste to Landfill policies.

Check out Otis’ piece here.

Get more of Elevator World. Sign up for our free e-newsletter.

Please enter a valid email address.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.
Image courtesy of CTBUH

CTBUH Announces New Assemblies

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Habtoor Tower; image © Al Habtoor Group

One of the World’s Largest Buildings Planned for Dubai

KEB Canada Regional Sales Manager Scott Froehle; image courtesy of KEB America.

KEB America Opens New Sales Office in Ontario, Canada

Hyundai Elevator CEO Cho Jae-cheon speaks during the launch event of the company’s advanced elevator maintenance service Miri; image courtesy of Hyundai Elevator.

Hyundai Elevator Launches Advanced Elevator Maintenance Service

Looking north from Metropolitan Road to the park and hotel;  image courtesy of Z01 for Sunray Group

Self-Sustaining Community Proposed for Toronto Suburb

Mumbai Divsion of Central Railway To Install Nearly 50 Escalators at Stations

Mumbai Division of Central Railway To Install Nearly 50 Escalators at Stations

New elevators at Livonia Avenue Station; photo courtesy of TAP Electric

Brooklyn Subway Station Modernization With Elevators Wins Award

Rome Colosseum; photo by Andrea Spallanzani for Pixabay

Elevator Debuts at Rome Colosseum After Five Years of Construction