The introduction of what was essentially a skyscraper meant people had to find a way to get up to the top. And while the population might have been fitter in those days, all those stairs were still not fun. A New York Times reporter who made the trek reported, "The ascent is a little fatiguing, but it aids the digestion" (via "From Ascending Rooms to Express Elevators").
Other publications were quick to reassure their readers that one didn't have to suffer so much to get to the top ... if one was brave enough. A newfangled contraption, the elevator, would be installed in the Latting Observatory. "At distances of 100, 200, and 300 feet, passengers will be lifted by a steam car to landings," Scientific American explained. The New York Times expanded on this description a bit, writing, "A well 15 feet in diameter will be carried the whole way up, through which personas will be hoisted to the different landings." For those who didn't like the sound of that, though, "There will also be a spiral staircase." But there was no need to fear, The New York Mirror promised (reprinted in the Natchez Daily Courier), since, in the elevator, one could "sit in ease and safety, and be gently raised by steam power to the highest apartment."
However, while Elisha Otis definitely demonstrated his elevator in the neighboring Crystal Palace exhibition center (pictured), "From Ascending Rooms..." believes there's reasonable doubt these elevators were ever actually installed as promised in the observatory.
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