The Eiffel Tower in Paris was named after Gustave Eiffel, a Frenchman who built the tower. He was born in a prosperous family in 1832. He graduated from the Central School of Engineering in Paris and went to work for a railway construction company. For years, Gustave made plan after plan of dams, factories, stations and structures of great size. All over Europe, engineers copied them. In the middle 1880s, a group of French industrialists persuaded the government to organize a world fair in Paris. Gustave Eiffel proposed a 989 feet tower of iron as a symbol of the exhibition. The construction of the tower began in January 1887. Forty engineers and designers under Eiffel’s direction worked for two years. The Tower was completed in March 1889. It was the highest structure yet made by men. No such building had ever been constructed before. It is still regarded as one of the wonders of the world. About a million of people visit the tower annually. The Empire State Building of New York, Buckingham Palace of London are such magnificent buildings.