Otis History | Elevator history timeline
Our history:
A story of innovation and progress
September 20, 2023, marks 170 years of business for Otis Elevator Company. It commemorates the first sale of an elevator with Elisha Otis' safety brake.
The invention sparked a new industry that made elevators safe and spurred new ways for cities to grow and for people to move.
In this timeline, you’ll find many interesting milestones that helped Otis Elevator Company become the world’s leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company.
Otis can now be found nearly everywhere people are on the move.
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Built on a legacy of innovation
1850s
In the beginning: 'all safe'
1853
Company founder Elisha Graves Otis, a skilled craftsman and determined entrepreneur, sells his first elevator following his invention of the elevator safety brake.
It’s an inspired solution to a universal problem of the industrial age – how to safely move freight from floor to floor without risking lives or destroying cargo if the hoisting rope breaks.
His invention ultimately gives rise to the modern city and changes how we live, how cities are built and how the world moves.
1854
To spark sales, Elisha Otis arranges with the showman P.T. Barnum to exhibit his invention in New York during the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, commonly known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition. Standing high above the crowd on a platform lift, Otis orders the retaining rope to be cut. The platform drops a few inches and the crowd screams. But the safety brake immediately halts the descent. “All safe, gentlemen, all safe," Otis assures them.
1854-57
The company sells eight elevators in 1854 and 15 in 1855. In 1857, Otis installs its first passenger elevator in New York City’s E.V. Haughwout Building, a five-story department store whose wealthy clients include Mary Todd Lincoln.
1860s
Securing a patent, building next-generation leaders
1861: Elisha Otis secures a patent in January 1861 to protect his invention. He dies four months later at age 49 in Yonkers, New York, during a diphtheria epidemic. Fortunately, thanks to mentoring from their father, Charles and Norton Otis are ready to take over the business. By the end of the decade the company is thriving, thanks to product innovation and aggressive marketing.
1860s
Securing a patent, building next-generation leaders
1861: Charles Otis pens the first Service agreement where he promises to personally “assume the entire charge and responsibility” for maintaining a steam-powered elevator at a cost of $780 per year.
1860s
Securing a patent, building next-generation leaders
1867: The company, originally named the Union Elevator and General Machine Works by Elisha Otis, subsequently undergoes several name changes. In this year, Charles and Norton Otis change the company’s name to Otis Brothers & Company.
1870s
A gilded age
Otis begins offering an ornate passenger elevator with additional safety features. Cabinetmakers build the cabs, which the Otis catalog compares to “sumptuous” apartments, “richly carpeted, with a large mirror and luxurious sofas around three sides.”
1870s
A gilded age
1878: Otis introduces a roped hydraulic elevator that increases speeds to 244 meters (800 ft) per minute.
1880s
Power and steel
Two technological breakthroughs in the United States accelerate the emergence of the modern skyline. The steel I-beam, more durable than iron as a construction frame, enables architects to build taller structures. Simple rope-and-pulley hydraulic systems also help overcome early building height restrictions.
1880s
Power and steel
1880: The company receives contracts to install elevators in the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
1882: Charles and Norton Otis sell their stock and patents for $350,000 (about $10.4 million in 2023). The brothers are retained as consultants.
1884: Otis purchases the American Elevator Company and establishes sales offices throughout Europe.
1880s
Power and steel
1887: Otis wins the contract to supply elevators for the North and South pillars of the Eiffel Tower, which becomes the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. The curvature of the Tower’s pillars poses a unique technical challenge which Otis was able to meet. A century later, Otis is hired to modernize the two Duolifts during a major renovation. These elevators allow visitors to reach the top of the Tower from the 2nd floor.
1880s
Power and steel
1887: Charles and Norton Otis formally return to the company as board members, and Charles is also elected Otis president.
1880s
Power and steel
1888: Otis installs its first elevator in Hong Kong, a British crown colony at the time, at the luxurious Hong Kong Hotel.
1888: Expanding its presence in Washington, D.C., Otis installs a steam-powered elevator in the Washington Monument. The elevator carries visitors to the top in 12 minutes when the landmark opens to the public in 1888.
1890s
Innovations push company forward
Otis introduces technologies for regulating speed, controlling door operation and improving safety. Other innovations include new braking systems, and steel guides instead of wood and soft-iron cables.
1890s
Innovations push company forward
1898: Otis and 13 other companies merge to form a new entity with a new name, incorporated in New Jersey as The Otis Elevator Company. Norton Otis is board chairman and William Delavan Baldwin is president. The public company has a market capitalization of $11 million – the equivalent of ~ $404 million in 2023.
1900s
Otis expands further
In this decade and throughout his 32-year tenure as president and then chairman, Baldwin transforms Otis into a thriving entity by focusing on expansion, quality and innovation. Around the world, Otis elevators are installed in buildings of all heights and styles – utilitarian and opulent alike.
1900
An Otis moving staircase won the Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Equipment inventor Charles Seeberger, teams with Otis and also coins the word “escalator,” using the Latin language. The word translates to “means of traversing from.” Seeberger trademarks it in 1899 but a U.S. federal court nullifies the trademark 50 years later, saying it has become so synonymous with the Seeberger/Otis moving staircase it is now generic.
1903
Otis advances the industry with another innovation – an improved gearless traction machine. The technology allows previous height limits to be surpassed, enabling construction of true skyscrapers.
1905
Norton Otis dies of cancer at age 63. He had been elected as a U.S. congressman just 23 months earlier.
1907
Twenty-one years after the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor, Otis installs the monument’s first elevator to carry visitors from the base to the top of the stone pedestal. The statue itself does not have elevators, so visitors may choose to walk the remaining 377 steps to the crown.
1910s
Underground, over water and around the world
1908 to 1912: In New York City, the 47-story Singer Building, the 50-story Metropolitan Life Tower and the 58-story Woolworth Building are all built. Each becomes the world’s tallest building at time of completion, surpassing the previous. All are equipped with gearless traction-machine elevators from Otis.
1910: Otis installs its first elevator in Korea at the Chosun Bank in Seoul. It is used to move currency from floor to floor.
1910s
Underground, over water and around the world
1911:The first two escalators to be used by London Transport are installed at Earl's Court Station. They are Otis A flat-step units, the forerunners of the heavy-duty escalator. The flat-step units are so successful that between 1911 and 1915, 22 machines are installed in the London Underground. The unit becomes the prime mode of passenger movement from station to street and continues to expand in popularity and acceptance.
(Image is a later model of the escalator at Highgate Station)
1910s
Underground, over water and around the world
1914: The Panama Canal officially opens with safety features that include emergency dams to control water flow. The dams are installed with 72 Otis hoisting machines that swing bridge-like structures across the canal’s locks and then lower metal doors into place to block water.
1914: Otis merges with the British lift and manufacturing firm Waygood & Co., gaining operations in India, South Africa, Myanmar, Singapore and Australia, and a strong presence in Egypt, Belgium, Portugal, Russia, Brazil and Ecuador.
1910s
Underground, over water and around the world
1915: Otis develops a leveling device for the U.S. Navy that automatically aligns a ship’s elevator with the dock when the cab stops and its doors open. This facilitates cargo loading during rough seas. Otis soon adapts the leveling technology for its passenger elevators to enhance safety by reducing stumbling hazards.
1920s
A new era: stock and service
Otis trades on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time on March 18, 1920. The stock closes that day at U.S. $144 a share, with a volume of 800 shares. The company had been issuing capital stock over the counter since incorporating in November 1898.
1920s
A new era: stock and service
1924: Formal equipment service contracts become available nationwide and the Otis Service business takes off.
1927: Charles Otis dies at age 92.
1930s
Sustaining Otis through tough times
Service and modernization work exceeds new equipment sales beginning in 1932. This sustains the Otis business as the construction industry collapses during the Great Depression and beyond.
1930s
Sustaining Otis through tough times
1931: The Empire State Building opens, equipped with 61 passenger elevators and six freight elevators from Otis. Dubbed “robot elevators” for their automatic controls, the building’s passenger elevators handle tens of thousands of trips a day. The following decade, two elevators are added to expand capacity. When completed, the Empire State Building is the first to exceed 100 floors and becomes the world’s tallest building at 102 stories – until another Otis project, the north tower of the original World Trade Center, surpasses it in 1970.
1930s
Sustaining Otis through tough times
1932: The Cities Service Building in New York City opens with the latest Otis innovation, a double-deck elevator. Each consists of two cabs joined vertically in the same hoistway. This enables eight cabs to do the work of 16, freeing up rentable building space while accommodating heavy passenger traffic during peak hours.
1940s
Wartime military support and post-war innovation
During World War II, Otis shifts to wartime production. It uses its expertise in science, engineering and factory management to manufacture ordnance, aircraft and ships in addition to elevators. The U.S. Navy employs hydraulic elevators from Otis to move aircraft onto aircraft carrier warships.
1940s
Wartime military support and post-war innovation
1945: The company emerges from the World War II stronger than ever, making elevators at a rate “substantially in excess of our prewar normal,” in the words of Leroy Peterson, chairman and president beginning in 1945.
1940s
Wartime military support and post-war innovation
1948: Otis Elevoice™ is included as an option for Otis Autotronic™ elevators while they still had attendants – two years ahead of attendant-free Autotronic systems – to help passengers adjust. A pre-recorded voice welcomes passengers and if the door is held open too long, it instructs: "Please let the doors close. You are delaying service."
1940s
Wartime military support and post-war innovation
1948: The 37-story Palmolive Building, a beautiful example of art deco architecture on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, becomes the first building where Otis pipes music into its elevators. Psychologists theorize that soft music might distract passengers from “building sway.” Otis works with Muzak, a company founded in 1934 by Major General George Owen Squier, a pioneer in the transmission of multiple signals over electrical lines.
1950s
Deep in the heart of Texas – and around the world
1950
The first Autotronic™ system is installed in the new 11-story Atlantic Refining Building in Dallas – the world’s first building to feature Otis high-speed, no-operator elevators.
1952
The United Nations headquarters opens in New York City, equipped with 33 Otis elevators.
1953
Otis India is formed as a joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., reflecting the continued expansion of Otis in Asia.
1960s
Threading a needle
1962: The Space Needle opens in Seattle, equipped with three Otis elevators custom-designed for the 184-meter (605-foot) observation tower, centerpiece of the 1962 World’s Fair.
1960s
Threading a needle
1967: Otis wins the contract to engineer, manufacture and install elevators and escalators for the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City, the tallest buildings in the complex, rising 110 floors each. Otis overcomes numerous technical challenges to deliver arguably the largest vertical transportation system in history at the time. A terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, destroyed the towers and sadly claimed many lives.
1970s
Exciting computer-controlled elevators
1976: Looking to diversify, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) acquires Otis, by now a billion-dollar enterprise and the world’s largest elevator company.
1979: Otis introduces the Elevonic™ 101 elevator, a system controlled by microprocessors. The compact operation cuts travel time by coordinating elevator speed, position and direction with a building’s traffic flow. Otis engineers develop the technology with Hamilton Standard, the UTC aerospace unit that had helped put astronauts on the moon.
1980s
Otis expands its reach into Asia-Pacific
Over the decade, robust growth in the elevator industry shifts from the United States and Europe to Asia-Pacific, particularly China, where rapid urbanization turns the country into the world’s largest elevator market. It remains so today.
1980s
Otis expands its reach into Asia-Pacific
1983: Otis launches the OTISLINE™ system, a centralized, professionally staffed, 24/7 operation dedicated solely to customer service. The system enables dispatchers to respond quickly to a customer call and then contact local service mechanics. Initially available only in North America, the OTISLINE system’s reach later expands in multiple languages to other countries, including France and China.
1980s
Otis expands its reach into Asia-Pacific
1988: The U.S. Postal Service issues a postage stamp with an illustration of an Otis birdcage elevator as part of its Transportation Series.
1990s
Building a larger business in China
1997: Otis formed a new a joint venture (“Otis Electric”) in Hangzhou, East China.
1990s
Building a larger business in China
1998: Otis forms Otis China Limited as a holding company to manage its joint ventures in the country.
1990s
Building a larger business in China
1999: Otis patents the SkyBuild™ self-climbing construction elevator, which moves crews and materials among floors quickly and safely – without an external lift or exposure to weather. The SkyBuild system rises in one-floor increments to keep pace with construction, operates faster than a conventional external hoist, and quickly becomes a SkyRise™ interior elevator when building construction is complete.
2000s
Gen2® system and energy-capturing ReGen™drive
The 21st century begins with exciting products offering greater comfort for passengers and energy savings for customers.
2000s
Otis revolutionizes the elevator industry with the launch of its Gen2 elevator system, which uses long-lasting, steel-reinforced flexible flat belts in place of conventional steel cables. The belts noticeably reduce noise and vibration, creating a smooth, quiet ride. The Gen2 family of elevators becomes the most popular in Otis history, selling more than 1 million units and counting.
2005
Otis adds its ReGen drive (introduced in 1996 as an option for high-rises) as standard in all Gen2 elevators, including for low- and mid-rise buildings. The ReGen drive captures energy that would otherwise be lost as heat to generate electricity, which is fed into the building power grid. This enables energy savings. For example, a Gen2 elevator with a ReGen drive uses approximately 75% less energy compared to conventional hydraulic systems without regenerative drives.
2010s
Expanding our reach and height
2010: The Burj Khalifa by Emaar opens in Dubai, becoming the world’s tallest building at 828 meters – more than a half-mile. The tower includes 65 Otis elevators and eight Otis escalators. It features the fastest double-deck elevator, which travels 10 meters per second, or more than 20 mph.
2011: Eighty years after Otis installed the original equipment in the Empire State Building (in 1931), Otis is awarded the contract to modernize 68 of the iconic structure’s elevators and add five more. The project is one of the largest modernization projects in the history of Otis.
2010s
Expanding our reach and height
2016: Otis launched “Otis Electric” brand to serve growing customer needs in China.
2010s
Expanding our reach and height
2018: Otis introduces its Otis ONE™ Internet of Things (IoT) service platform at the World Elevator Expo. Otis ONE is a connected elevator solution providing real-time status information, proactive communications, predictive insights and some remote service options.
2020s
Stepping into the future – independently
Otis separates from parent company United Technologies Corp., becoming independent again for the first time since 1976. Judy Marks, president of the Otis division under UTC, becomes CEO and President of the newly renamed Otis Worldwide Corporation and is later also named Chair. She is the first woman in those roles. Otis is relisted on The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OTIS) in April 2020, almost 100 years to the day after it was first listed in 1920.
2020s
Stepping into the future – independently
2021: Otis launches the Gen3™ and Gen360™ platforms. They are based on the belted technology of its best-selling Gen2 system with the Otis ONE IoT digital platform native to both. The Gen 360 platform includes additional features such as an all-new electronic architecture and a reimagined design allowing maintenance to be performed safely from within the cab.
2022: Otis is selected to modernize elevators in the Space Needle in Seattle, 60 years after installing the original three-elevator system.
2020s
Stepping into the future – independently
2022: Otis unveils 13 Environmental, Social and Governance commitments in its inaugural 2021 ESG Report, highlighting how Otis helps people, communities and environments thrive. The report’s goals are aligned to several United Nations Sustainability goals and key sustainability ratings frameworks. Progress in 2022 toward the goals is reported in 2023.
2020s
Stepping into the future – independently
2022: Otis is selected to provide more than 350 escalators and elevators for the new Shenzhen Metro Line 13. The equipment will be connected to Otis ONE, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based platform for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. The project builds on more than two decades of cooperation between Otis and Shenzhen Metro, which already includes 950 Otis elevators and escalators and reinforces Shenzhen’s growth as a contemporary smart city.
2020s
Stepping into the future – independently
2023: Otis introduces the Gen3 Core™ elevator, the latest in the digitally native Gen3 elevator family. The Gen3 Core elevator is designed specifically for the growing market of two- to six-story buildings.
Otis is everywhere people are on the move
We intend to continue innovating to advance our industry – safely and sustainably – long into the future
World Elevator Day – thanks to Otis innovation
Otis built the first passenger elevator and today the world celebrates
March 23 is World Elevator Day and this history is our history. On March 23, 1857, Eder Haughwout opened an upscale department store in New York City – and equipped the five-story building with Otis’ first passenger elevator.
