Eiffel Tower (Paris, Tennessee) Eiffel Tower (Paris, Tennessee) Tennessee's Eiffel Tower is a landmark in the city of Paris, Tennessee. Built in the early 1990s, this structure is a model of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Engineering students at Christian Brothers University originally constructed the tower to commemorate the 1990 Memphis in May festival. Each year, the festival honors a country, and 1990 focused on France. According to Brother Patrick O'Brien, a public relations official for the university at the time: "[the tower] was the centerpiece of one of our most popular quads." Regardless, the wooden tower was a temporary structure. Moreover, it
Gustave Eiffel designed by Charles Garnier, later among the most prominent critics of the Tower. The dome, with a diameter of , was the largest in the world when built and used an ingenious bearing device: rather than running on wheels or rollers, it was supported by a ring-shaped hollow girder floating in a circular trough containing a solution of magnesium chloride in water. This had been patented by Eiffel in 1881. The design of the Eiffel Tower was originated by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who had discussed ideas for a centrepiece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. In May 1884 Koechlin,