I rode in the THE oldest residential elevator on the planet recently. It is in the Marland Mansion in Ponca City, OK. The white house had the first one, but it was removed during one of the renovations.
The walls are covered in buffalo hide. It is just a three story building, so no a long ride. Otis elevator is proud of it, and they come service it every three months to keep it working perfectly.
Riding in an elevator is very safe. In Oklahoma City, the tallest building is 50 stories. The top floor is a restaurant. The have one elevator that only goes from ground to 50th floor. It is fast enough your ears will pop going up or down. It is a fancy and good restaurant. I sure would not want to walk up 50 floors.
Check out this article:
https://historycollection.com/cheat-death-twice-betty-lou-oliver-survived-75-storey-elevator-crash-plane-crashed-building/
The rescuers had placed Betty on a stretcher and put her in an elevator on the 79th floor. Unfortunately, they didn’t know that the cables on the elevator had been weakened in the crash. As soon as they placed Betty on the elevator, the cables snapped, and Betty started to hurtle down towards the bottom of the elevator shaft. Her entire life must surely have passed before her eyes as the elevator rocketed towards the ground.
In a few seconds, she would be dead at just 20 years of age; with no opportunity to achieve any of her goals in life nor would she see her husband again. Remarkably, Betty survived her second ordeal of the day with an extraordinary amount of luck by all accounts. The elevator plunged a total of 75 stories, approximately 1,000 feet, so in reality, Betty shouldn’t have survived.
As it transpired, the thousand feet of elevator cable had broken away and fallen to the bottom of the shaft before Betty landed. By the time she landed, the cable was there to provide a softer landing surface. The rapid compression of air also added to the cushion. Although there are more fun ways to end up in the Guinness Book of Records, Betty’s name was added for the unlikely feat of longest survived elevator fall; a record she still holds today. It was an incredible escape but what became of Betty Lou Oliver?