Few know that the original Trường Tiền Bridge wasn't actually named "Trường Tiền" at all...
Indeed, conceived and contracted by Thanh Thai the king, the first bridge spanning the river was initially named after the reigning monarch, Thành Thái.
A mere eight years after its inauguration, King Thành Thái was exiled to Cap Saint Jacques (now Vũng Tàu), a southern province renowned for its beautiful beaches. The bridge then underwent another renaming, becoming the Clemenceau Bridge, after the then-Prime Minister of France, a man of politics with a past as a physician, journalist, and even physicist – a truly multifaceted individual.
In 1897, during the reign of King Thành Thái, among the four French construction conglomerates that missed the Tràng Tiền Bridge bid was Société de Levallois-Perret (where Eiffel had previously served as chairman).
And Schneider et Cie et Letellier, the company that won and built the first version of Tràng Tiền Bridge (then known as Thành Thái Bridge), still exists today as Schneider Electric SA.
However, in 1937, this connection was finally reestablished when Eiffel's bidding team was invited for the major restoration (the largest restoration in its 126-year history) and was further repaired after the war in 1954.
