Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO

Visiting the Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO, has been on my bucket list for years.

Both of us were so excited to finally be able to tour the Gateway Arch. We scheduled our tour to follow a paddleboat river cruise on the Mississippi River. We even had allowed enough time to take a leisurely stroll though the Gateway Arch Museum at the Visitors Center.

Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO

National Park Status

Did you know that the Gateway Arch is a national park? We did not. It became a national park on February 22, 2018 because, unlike most other national parks, it commemorates the role Thomas Jefferson played in the westward expansion of the United States. It is an iconic symbol that embodies the adventurous spirit of America. And it is one of the most recognizable symbols.

Background History

The Gateway Arch commemorates St. Louis’ role in the westward expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century. The park is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s role in opening the West, to the pioneers who helped shape its history, and to Dred Scott who sued for his freedom in the Old Courthouse.

Because of its strategic location near the confluence of the nation’s two longest rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, St. Louis was a successful trading center from the time of its founding 1764. Fur trade with regional Indian tribes, mainly the Osages, developed during a colonial era when primarily French speaking residents were ruled by Spain.

In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States. This insured prominence for St. Louis. Rapid growth in the early 1800s led to St. Louis becoming the headquarters for the American fur trade in the Rocky Mountains, which were the jumping off point for westward exploration. It was also the site of government treaties with Indian tribes and a growing economic and manufacturing center. By the 1849s it was the last major city on the way west and an outfitting point for covered wagon expeditions to California, Utah and Oregon.

Today, architect Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece is a place to learn about this complex history, contemplate its significance and meet the people of America’s Western epoch.

Museum and Visitors Center

The Visitors Center is a vast open space that includes the museum, gift shop and the Tucker Theater.

The museum at the Gateway Arch opened in 2018. It covers 201 years of history focusing on the role of St. Louis in the westward expansion of the United States. The experiences of the people of the West and contemporary significance are explored in 6 exhibit galleries in the Museum at the Gateway Arch.

Colonial St. Louis

St. Louis was founded as a French fur trading post in 1764 and prospered because of its central location. European newcomers participated in travel and trade networks that American Indians had used for centuries. This gallery explores early French architecture, cuisine, language and customs.

Jefferson’s Vision

Thomas Jefferson had a passionate interest in the West. He brokered the Louisiana Purchase, sent Lewis and Clark to explore the new acquisition and devised a scheme to remove eastern Indian tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River. This gallery shows Clark’s role in facilitating Indian removal. And a reconstructed version of the Old Rock House, an 1818 fur trade warehouse is on display in this section.

Manifest Destiny

During the 1800s many Americans embraced the idea of “manifest destiny”. This phrase was coined in 1845 to justify the phenomenon of westward expansion. This gallery explores the positive and negative effects of the Manifest Destinyconcept on American Indians, Spanish speaking residents of the Southwest during the Mexican-American War and American pioneers.

Riverfront Era

The current grounds of the Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO were once part of a thriving river port that fueled westward expansion. People heading West came here to buy supplies for a grueling 6 to 7 month trek across the continent. Murals, a detailed scale model and a reconstructed storefront recreate the activity of the historic levee area.

New Frontiers

As the 20th century dawned and railroads traversed the land, the West was quickly settled. St. Louis prospered. American Indian tribes were confined to reservations which ushered in a long period of hardship for them. In this gallery the West is memorialized in art, literature and film. Models and artifacts document construction of the Eads Bridge. Videos feature reflections from Indian tribal members.

Building the Gateway Arch

St. Louis residents spent decades dreaming, planning and building a monument to the city’s role in western expansion. This gallery shows the riverfront demolition and reconstruction, design and construction of the Arch, the career of Eero Saarinen and the evolution of the monument’s significance.

The Arch

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen was a world renowned architect who designed the Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO. But his solo career started with the creation of this monumental memorial. His design was selected from 72 entries.

As his design show, Saarinen was a man of great vision. Sadly he died suddenly of a brain tumor in 1961 at the age of 51. He did not live to see his vision completed. Though his life was cut tragically short, but his vision lives on through the structures that he created.

Arch Facts

The Gateway Arch construction began in February 1963 and took about a year and a half to complete. The last piece was set in place on October 28 1965. It was built at a cost of approximately $13,420,168. and that was just for the arch itself. Additional development of the grounds and other structures cost more than $51 million. It opened to the public in July 1967.

The arch is 630 feet tall (63 stories, 192 meters, 7,650 inches). It is also 630 feet wide at ground level, from the outside of one leg to the outside of the other. Each leg is 54 feet wide at ground level. The top of the arch is 17 feet across. At the top of the arch there are 16 windows on each side and each window is 7-inches high by 27-inches long.

The Arch was engineered and built to withstand hurricane force winds of 150 mph. In such conditions the Arch can sway off center up to 18-inches in either direction. To date the furthest it has actually ever swayed off center has been 4-inches.

To me, the most amazing fact is that this arduous and extremely dangerous feat not one life was lost!!!

Tucker Theater and Brick Mural at the Gateway Arch Saint Louis MO

At the end of our tour to the top of the Arch we went to the Tucker Theater to watch a fabulous film on the creation and construction of the Gateway Arch. But it was the brick mural outside of the theater entrance that was truly inspiring.

The brick mural facade for the Tucker Theater is 15-feet by 45-feet and commemorates the men and women who made the Gateway Arch a reality. It’s titled Monument to the Dream and was created bay artist Jay Tschetter of Lincoln NE.

Tschetter began his career as a brick layer, moved on to scrimshaw and then, inspired by a picture of a carved bas-relief on brick, got into brick mural.

The craft of brick carving began with the ancient Babylonians. Wet, unfired bricks are set up on a large easel, where they are sculpted and cared with highlights and relief. The bricks are kept wet during the carving process and carefully covered with plastic at night so that they retain moisture. Once complete the bricks are numbered and taken down to be put on a drying rack for two weeks. The Tucker Theater mural took two months to carve and is composed of a total of 2,500 bricks! It was dedicated on June 26, 1998 before a gathering of friends, family and the descendants of the people depicted in it.