7. It Was a Board Game Icon
A new game called Towers arrived on store shelves in 1891. Released by Selchow & Righter, a firm better remembered for Parcheesi and Scrabble, this one featured a board with illustrations of the Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Washington Monument, and the Highbridge Water Tower.
The trade publication ad above was aimed at businesses, while the one below is from a popular magazine and intended for consumers. Towers sold wholesale for a dozen games at $8 and retailed at $1, putting it at the higher end of amusement options.
Although Towers did not prove to be an enduring classic, its inclusion of the Highbridge Water Tower indicates the Uptown structure’s prominence at the time.