Many famous structures have an obvious purpose, from
protecting a city to honoring a deity, but the point of the
Tower is not as well known.  It has been home to
restaurants and science labs, and even once held an
apartment for its designer, but none of these are the
reason it was built.

The history of this famous monument can be traced back to
the time-honored tradition of showing off.  The planners of
the 1889 Paris Exposition wanted to highlight the
superiority of French engineering by building the first
thousand-foot tower.  Luckily Gustave Eiffel won the
contract, or we might now be associating the city of
romance with a monument in the shape of a guillotine, or
one that had a huge sprinkler to water the city during dry
periods.  Both of these questionable designs were losing
entries in the contest.