In the19th century, a French gardener wanted to make a hard flowerpot. At that time, the French couldn't make ceramic flowerpots, so he tried to weave wire into a structure and pour something sticky on it. So the gardener named Joseph maunier mixed cement, sand and pebbles together and stirred them with water. Unexpectedly, the flowerpot is really shaped and still hard after a few days.
This gardener was the first Frenchman to invent concrete, and applied for a patent for concrete in 1865, and then a concrete company bought his patent.