Just found out the oldest working elevator in my city is from 1923

I was looking through some old building records at the city hall for a job downtown. The clerk showed me a file on the Grant Building, and it said the original elevator was installed by Otis in 1923 and is still running. It's a manual gate car with a lever control. I had no idea something that old was still in daily service here. Has anyone else worked on a pre-war elevator that's still going strong?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_murphy852mo agoMost Upvoted

Actually, Otis didn't start using that name until 1975. That elevator would have been made by the Otis Elevator Company, which is what it was called back then. It's a cool bit of trivia for such an old machine.

holly_sanchez752mo ago

Seems like a lot of fuss over an elevator name.

lindab492mo ago

Wow, that's incredible it's still running after all this time. I got nervous just reading "manual gate car with a lever control." I'd probably get my coat stuck in the gate or something. Makes my twenty year old dishwasher seem like a moody teenager by comparison.