It was 93 years ago Tuesday that a grand celebration took place in downtown Minneapolis.
Thousands gathered at the corner of Marquette and Second Avenue for the dedication of the Foshay Tower.
The 32-story art deco building faced with Indiana limestone and topped with ten-foot-high letters on all four sides was built by utility businessman Wilbur Foshay.
Standing at 447 feet tall, and now including a 160-foot antenna mast, the Foshay Tower at the time was the tallest building in the US between Chicago and Los Angeles.
Foshay wanted the entire world to join in his personal tribue to his hero, George Washington.
Among the dignitaries there on Aug. 30, 1929 was the march king himself, John Phillip Sousa, who had debuted the Minnesota March at the state fair just two years earlier.
On this day, Sousa directed his band in the first-ever public playing of the Foshay Tower March.
It was the high point of Foshay's life.
And also the only time he ever heard the march.
Just six weeks later, Foshay lost everything in the stock market crash.
The check used to pay Sousa for the march bounced.
The song wasn't played again until after the check cleared, in 1988, more than 30 years after Foshay's death
In 1932, Foshay was convicted of operating a pyramid scheme and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
After three years in Leavenworth, Foshay was released on good behavior, and eventually was given a full pardon by President Harry Truman.
The Foshay Tower was the tallest building in Minneapolis until 1972, when crews working on the IDS tower a few blocks away passed the iconic structure.
The tower still stands at Marquette and Second and is on the list of national historic places.
It's now a W hotel, which opened in 2008.