What happened in 1889?

The Eiffel Tower is completed in Paris

On 31 March 1889, the engineer Gustave Eiffel climbed to the top of his new iron tower in Paris and raised the French flag. Built for the World's Fair marking the centenary of the French Revolution, it stood about 300 m high, the tallest structure on Earth. Many artists called it ugly. It became the symbol of Paris.

Hollerith patents his punched-card tabulating machine

On 8 January 1889, the American inventor Herman Hollerith received a patent for a machine that counted data using punched cards. It processed the 1890 US census in a fraction of the usual time. His company later became part of IBM, and punched cards fed computers for decades.

The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated

On 31 March 1889, the engineer Gustave Eiffel climbed to the top of his new iron tower in Paris and raised the French flag. Built for the World's Fair, it was the tallest structure on Earth, at about 300 m. Many critics hated it at first. It is now the symbol of Paris.

The first jukebox plays in San Francisco

On 23 November 1889, a coin-operated phonograph was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. Customers paid a nickel to listen to a recording through one of four listening tubes. It is considered the ancestor of the jukebox and an early step in the music business.

The tower is completed

It opens to visitors at the World's Fair

Eiffel Tower opens