Exposition Universelle

But the wooden tower concept, it scales that up to a literal monument.

Like Gustave Eiffel built the tower for the 1889 World's Fair.

And at the time, it was wildly expensive.

It was heavily criticized by all the Parisian artists, and it served absolutely zero practical utility.

And since we're talking about the Eiffel Tower, here's a little history.

It was built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris and named after engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built it.

And guess what? Construction only took two years, two months, and five days.

That is really speedy.

And, you know, this is just a little bump in the road.

So what better opportunity than the Paris 1889 World's Fair, or as it's called in French, and here I go butchering the language, Exposition Universelle.

Ha! So this was the perfect opportunity.

They had this coming up.

For the

1889 World's Fair.

It was intended to be taken down.

It was supposed to be

When Victor Lustig arrived in Paris in 1925, the Eiffel Tower had already been standing there for more than 35 years.

It had been built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the huge world fair held in Paris to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution.

And although the tower had become one of the most recognizable structures in the world, its history had not been completely peaceful.

When it was first announced, many French artists and intellectuals hated the idea of putting an enormous iron tower in the middle of Paris, and the structure had originally been intended to have such a more temporary existence.

And John Hardwick, 33, son of C.L. Hardwick, who founded the Cleveland Woolen Mills, the company that later became Hardwick Clothes.

The three were headed for New York, where they'd board a ship for Europe and the 1889 World's Fair in Paris.

The Eiffel Tower had opened that May, and the whole fair was built around it.

When they left Cleveland, they got the kind of send-off small towns gave their favorite suns.

But when it was built, it wasn't meant to last.

The tower was constructed for the 1889 World's Fair, Exposition Universelle, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

French engineer Gustave Eiffel designed the structure to serve as the fair's centrepiece and demonstrate France's engineering and industrial capabilities.

Construction began in 1887 and took just over two years to complete.

She visits the 1889 Paris Exposition.

The Exposition Universelle.

This is the event that debuted the Eiffel Tower, but for Fuller, the real draw was the Palais de Electricité, the electricity pavilions.

Because for an audience in 1889, electricity isn't just a utility yet.