Monday Open Line


The ingenuity of one man helped to change the very shape of America’s cities — and indeed those around the world. On this date in 1857 in New York City, Elisha Otis installed the first enclosed, commercial passenger elevator. His earlier development of automatic brakes meant that riders were safe, even if the hoisting cable of an elevator broke. Subsequent installations have lifted city skylines, as architects began to design increasingly taller buildings. And reversing centuries of practice, the elevator made the upper floors of a building more desirable for owners and renters than the lower ones. Making and installing elevators and escalators is a nearly $2 billion a year business for some 180 establishments in the U.S., providing jobs for nearly 7,000 people. Profile America is in its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.