Eiffel Tower With a Cowboy Hat — Paris, Texas
Built by local union members · 1993, hat added 1998 · Love Civic Center, Paris, Texas, USA
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain), 22 May 2014, as published on Street Art Utopia.
Paris, Texas, has a roughly 65-foot lattice replica of the Eiffel Tower, built and dedicated in 1993 by members of a local union beside the Love Civic Center. In 1998, after Paris, Tennessee, raised its own replica to 70 feet, a large red steel cowboy hat was set on top, and the hat has become the town’s trademark. Source Source Source Source Reported
Seen Sep 2025: KLTV report of 29 September 2025 on Paris tourism, with the tourism director describing the tower’s red cowboy hat; a Roadside America visitor tip of 18 March 2025 also reports it. Source Checked
More photos
💡 4 things to know
- A hat to win back heightBoth towns dedicated replicas in 1993; when Paris, Tennessee’s moved and grew to 70 feet, Paris, Texas boosters added a tilted red cowboy hat in 1998. Source Source Checked
- Hat installed October 1998The 10-foot steel hat with a 10-foot brim went up on Monday, 19 October 1998, under designer and fabricator Dayon Wall. Source Source Reported
- Which union built itSources differ: an ironworkers’ union (Library of Congress, Roadside America), the local welders’ union (Chamber of Commerce), or Boilermakers Local 902 (Atlas Obscura). Source Source Source Conflicting
- Still the only hatIn September 2025 Paris’s tourism director told KLTV the red hat makes it the only Eiffel replica of its kind. Source Reported
📍 Where it is
Beside the Love Civic Center, 2025 S Collegiate Dr, Paris, Texas 75460, USA (US 82 at Jefferson Rd), next to the Red River Valley Veterans Memorial Source Source Source Checked
Opens a map at 33.64051, -95.52392.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1993
Replica built and dedicated
- 199819 Oct
Red steel cowboy hat installed
- 201018 Mar
Photographed in light grey finish
- 201422 May
Carol Highsmith photo for Library of Congress
- 202518 Mar
Visitor tip: beautiful at night
- 202529 Sep
KLTV features the hatted tower
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
Paris, Texas puts a French twist on East Texas charm
“Our tower has the iconic red cowboy hat on it, so that makes us the only one that has that.”
A replica Eiffel Tower with a Texas accent in Paris, Texas
“Texas’s was built by a local ironworker’s union and was 65 feet tall.”
✅ The facts
- Built by
- Members of a local union (ironworkers, welders or Boilermakers Local 902, depending on the source) Source Source Source Conflicting
- Built
- 1993 (Atlas Obscura alone says unveiled 1995) Source Source Source Source Conflicting
- Height
- 65 ft in most sources; 50 ft (Spokesman-Review 1998) and 60 ft (Atlas Obscura) also given Source Source Source Source Conflicting
- Cowboy hat
- Red steel hat, about 10 ft tall with a 10 ft brim, added 1998 Source Source Source Checked
- Hat installed by
- Designer and fabricator Dayon Wall (supervised installation, Oct 1998) Source Reported
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- Library of Congress (Carol M. Highsmith Archive record) — 2014-05-22 (photo date)
- The Spokesman-Review (photo caption) — 1998-10-20
- Lamar County Chamber of Commerce (Paris, Texas tourism) — modified 2021-03-13
- KLTV 7 (Bob Hallmark) — 2025-09-29
- Texas Highways — c. 2024 (undated page)
- Roadside America
- Atlas Obscura
- Roadside America (visitor tips) — tips 2017-2025
- Hero image: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain), 22 May 2014, as published on Street Art Utopia; a 16:9 share image was made from it with blurred sides.
Last checked: 6 November 2026 · How we verify art