Eiffel Tower (Paris, Tennessee) to Memorial Park where it was finally erected. 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
Eiffel Tower of his company, and granted him 1.5 million francs toward the construction costs: less than a quarter of the estimated 6.5 million francs. Eiffel was to receive all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition and for the next 20 years. He later established a separate company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. These objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France