The Gateway Arch

A steady stream of pioneers braved hardship and danger to establish homes and communities west of the Mississippi River. Their history is remembered with a monument in St. Louis, the gateway city where the movement began.

Like the process it commemorates, creation and construction of the Arch were fraught with dangers and uncertainties. No less than the early settlers of the west, its construction crew faced extreme hardship as they scaled the 630 foot structure in all kinds of weather, testing their limits of endurance and skill. They left the city with a monument whose simple shape belies the engineering complexities and hazards required to build it. Today, the stainless steel Arch looms over the St. Louis .

The Arch, which today gleams in the sunshine, began as just a twinkle in the eye of architect Eero Saarinen when the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association announced their $225,000 competition for the best memorial design. In 1948, Saarinen was judged the winner with his inverted catenary curve design. The catenary curve is the shape which a heavy chain would take when suspended freely by two points.

The Gateway Arch was truly a unique undertaking. The only other monument which would surpass it was the Eiffel Tower, and although about a dozen were longer, no bridge in the world was as tall as the proposed Arch. A look at the measurements is astonishing. The sides of each of its triangular legs are 54 feet wide at the ground, tapering to 17 feet at the pinnacle. This gives the Arch, which is 630 tall and 630 feet wide, the appearance of being much taller than it is wide.

Construction began in Feb. 1961. From the outset, incredible exactness was required because the legs were built simultaneously. Even a fraction of an inch error at the base would have meant that when workers reached the top the two sections could not have been joined. Margin for error was a scant 1/64 of an inch.

To assure accuracy, nightly measurements were taken. Like the western explorers over a hundred years before, the workers took their readings by starlight. It was too risky for the measurement to be taken during the day, when shadows could have caused a miscalculation.

As the legs rose higher and higher into the St. Louis sky, work became more difficult. After the first 72 feet, cranes could no longer reach the construction area, so special tracks had to be built on the legs. Creeper derricks, each weighing 80 tons, had to be hauled up the legs on steel I-beam tracks.

On Oct. 28, 1965, the last piece was lowered into place, and steamboats blew their whistles up and down the Mississippi. It was the completion of a 30 year project, and a 2-1/2 year construction job. Despite a grim prediction of the loss of 13 men, not a single life had been lost on the project.

Work continued on the Arch, however. In 1968, the last of the passenger trams which travel to the observation area was completed, and in 1976 the Museum of Westward Expansion was opened to the public.

Today, you'll find several hours worth of activities at the Arch. Underground beneath the Arch, lies the Visitors Center, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and tram rides to the top of the Arch. After spending a few moments contemplating this incredible structure, step inside the Visitors Center for a look at how this memorial was built and, even more importantly, why it was built.

The Visitors Center shows Charles Guggenheim's film, "Monument to the Dream", throughout the day to show visitors the often hair-raising work of the the construction crews who put the Arch into place. There's no better way to appreciate the precision and hard work the project required than to view the 35 minute documentary. Don't be surprised to hear more than one gasp during the film from your fellow movie-goers -- some of the high-rise scenes are enough to make your palms sweat.

The Visitors Center is just one part of the underground attraction which welcomes three million visitors a year. Unless you are claustrophobic, head for the tram rides, located beneath the north and south legs.

The trip up the Arch is unlike any other tram ride you've ever taken. From the moment you enter one of the eight cars (which look like giant clothes dryer drums), you know you're in for something different. Together with four other passengers, you'll make the four minute journey up the Arch in a series of moves which prevent the cars from arriving at the observation area on their sides!

The ride up the Arch may be somewhat cramped and stuffy, but step out on the observation area and you'll know it was all worthwhile. The totally enclosed area is eight feet wide and 64 feet long, with windows lining both sides for views eastward across the Mississippi into Illinois and westward across the sprawling city of St. Louis. Don't worry about sway in the Arch. It is designed to sway 18 inches during a 150 m.p.h. wind, but the largest measured movement is only 4 inches off center.

When you look west, you'll see all of downtown St. Louis -- Busch Stadium, the home of the Cardinals, Union Station, once the busiest railroad station in the country, and Forrest Park, location of the Zoo. The full splendor of this riverfront town, with its high rise buildings and luxury hotels, is spread before you. You'll also see the Old Courthouse, just two blocks from the Arch. It's best known as the site of the Dred Scott trial, the case of a slave who brought suit for his freedom. The case was one of the last in a chain of events which lead to the Civil War.

But it's also possible to look out and imagine a much smaller St. Louis, one before the railroad station or even before the history-making trial. This was once a city of steamboats, fur trappers, and explorers. The Gateway Arch is built on the very site of the original village of St. Louis, founded as a trading center in 1764 by Pierre LaClede. The frontier settlement outfitted Lewis and Clark for their three year exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, and later it was the last look of "civilization" the settlers had as they began their long journey west.

The history of these explorations is traced in the Museum of Westward Expansion, located near the Visitors Center. Thomas Jefferson stands at the entrance to the museum, looking out at the exhibits which trace the exploration of the West. Jefferson's foresight is responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, and he sent explorers Lewis and Clark on their famous journey to chronicle life in the West. "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River," he said when he charged Captain Lewis with his task in 1803. It was a journey that took the explorers all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

One unusual aspect of the museum is the lack of identifying labels on many of the artifacts. The absence is intentional, because this is not a museum of things. "It's a museum about people," according to ranger Arlene Jackson, and the aim of many exhibits, which range from Indian moccasins to a Longhorn steer, is to develop a picture of life in pioneer times.

When you leave the underground museum and return to the sunshine reflecting off the 165,000 square feet of shining stainless steel, you may look to the West and remember Lewis and Clark and the hardy pioneers who braved the unknown wilderness. Or you may think of Eero Saarinen and the daredevil construction workers who completed a project that had never before been tried.

Or you may think of all the people, past and present, who dared to dream. They are the ones for whom the Arch rises beside the Mississippi in the St. Louis sky.

For information on visiting the Arch, see http://www.stlouisarch.com/