The Chicago World's Fair was held in 1893, but planning and building started much sooner. The Fair's organizers wanted to show the world that the United States, and specifically Chicago, was just as capable grand artistic and technological wonders as France. The centerpiece of the Paris Exposition was an elegant tower of steel tapering up to the sky. It was designed by Gustav Eiffel and gave daring visitors a view of Paris that took their breath away. The organizers of the Chicago World's Fair had to come up with something even more magnificent.