Gateway Arch
Encyclopedia
The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
in St. Louis, Missouri
. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary
arch.
The arch is located at the site of St. Louis' foundation, on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède
, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau
, to build a city.
The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish American
architect Eero Saarinen
and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel
in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time (approximately $ today). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.
, returning to St. Louis from the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
in Vincennes, Indiana
, beheld the crumbling St. Louis riverfront area and envisioned that building a memorial there would both revive the riverfront and stimulate the economy. He communicated his idea to mayor Bernard Dickmann, who on December 15, 1933, raised it in a meeting with city leaders. They sanctioned the proposal, and the nonprofit Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (JNEMA—pronounced "Jenny May") was formed. Smith was appointed chairman and Dickmann vice chairman. The association's goal was to create:
Many locals did not approve of depleting public funds for the cause. SaLees, Smith's daughter, related that when "people would tell him we needed more practical things", he would respond that "spiritual things" were equally important.
The association expected that $30 million would be needed to undertake the construction of such a monument. It called upon the federal government to foot three-fourths of the bill ($22.5 million).
The suggestion to renew the riverfront was not original, as previous projects were attempted but lacked popularity. The Jefferson memorial idea emerged amid the economic disarray of the Great Depression
and promised new jobs. The project was expected to create 5,000 jobs for three to four years. Committee members began to raise public awareness by organizing fundraisers and writing pamphlets. They also engaged Congress members, planning budgets and preparing bills, in addition to researching ownership of the land they had chosen, "approximately one-half mile in length ... from Third Street east to the present elevated railroad." In January 1934, Senator Bennett Champ Clark
and Representative John Cochran
introduced to Congress an appropriation bill
seeking $30 million for the memorial, but the bill failed to garner support due to the large amount of money solicited. In March of the same year, joint resolution
s proposed the establishment of a federal commission to develop the memorial. Although the proposal aimed for only authorization, the bill incurred opposition because people suspected that JNEMA would later seek appropriation. On March 28 the Senate bill was reported out, and on April 5 it was turned over to the House Library Committee, which later reported favorably on the bills. On June 8, both the Senate and House bills were passed. On June 15, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed the bill into law, instituting the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission. The commission comprised 15 members, chosen by Roosevelt, the House, the Senate, and JNEMA. It first convened on December 19 in St. Louis, where members examined the project and its planned location.
Meanwhile, in December, the JNEMA discussed organizing an architectural competition to determine the design of the monument. Local architect Louis LeBeaume had drawn up competition guidelines by January 1935. On April 13, 1935, the commission certified JNEMA's project proposals, including memorial perimeters, the "historical significance" of the memorial, the competition, and the $30 million budget. Between February and April, the Missouri State Legislature
passed an act allowing the use of bond
s to facilitate the project. On April 15, then Governor Guy B. Park
signed it into law. Dickmann and Smith applied for funding from two New Deal agencies—the Public Works Administration
(headed by Harold Ickes
) and the Works Progress Administration
(headed by Harry Hopkins
). On August 7, both Ickes and Hopkins assented to the funding requests, each promising $10,000,000, and said that the National Park Service
(NPS) would manage the memorial. A local bond issue election granting $7.5 million for the memorial's development was held on September 10 and passed.
On December 21, Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed Executive Order 7253 to approve the memorial, allocating the 82-acre area as the first National Historic Site
. The order also appropriated $3.3 million through the WPA and $3.45 million through the PWA ($6,750,000 in total). The motivation of the project was twofold—commemorating westward expansion and creating jobs
. Some taxpayers began to file suits to impede the monument, which they called a "boondoggle
".
ruled that condemnation was valid. $6.2 million in sum was distributed to land owners on June 14. Demolition commenced on October 10, 1939, when Dickmann extracted three bricks from a vacant warehouse.
Led by Paul Peters, adversaries of the memorial delivered to congressmembers in Washington, D.C., a leaflet titled "Public Necessity or Just Plain Pork". The JNEMA's lawyer, Bon Geaslin, found that the flyers did not taint the project but motivated congressmembers to find out more about the project. Although Representative John Cochran wanted to ask Congress to approve more funds, Geaslin believed the association should "keep a low profile, maintaining its current position during this session of Congress". He advised the association to "get a good strong editorial in one of the papers to the effect that a small group of tenants ... is soliciting funds [to fight] the proposed improvement, and stating that these efforts do not represent the consensus of opinion in St. Louis ..., and pointing out that such obstructions should be condemned".
Congress's reduction in spending made it impossible for the allocated funds to be obtained. NPS responded that the city would reduce their funding if the Feds did. It also advanced that the funds were sanctioned by an executive order, but superintendent John Nagle was cautious: what "one Executive Order does, another can undo". In March 1936, Representative Cochran commented during a House meeting that he "would not vote for any measure providing for building the memorial or allotting funds to it". Geaslin found Cochran's statements to be a greater hindrance to the project than Paul Peters' opposition, for Congress may see Cochran's opinions as representative of public opinion.
Peters and other opposition asked Roosevelt to rescind Executive Order 7253 and to redirect the money to the American Red Cross
. Smith impugned their motives, accusing them of being "opposed to anything that is ever advanced in behalf of the city." In February 1936, a The Nation
editorial written by Paul W. Ward denounced the project. Smith was infuriated, fearing the impact of attacks from a prestigious magazine, and wanted "to jump on it strong with hammer and tongs". William Allen White
, a renowned newspaper editor, advised Smith not to fret.
Because the Mississippi River played an essential role in establishing St. Louis' identity as the gateway to the west, a memorial commemorating it should be near the river. Railroad tracks that had been constructed in the 1930s on the levee
obstructed views of the riverfront from the memorial. When Ickes declared that the railway must be removed before he would allocate funds for the memorial, President of the St. Louis Board of Public Service Baxter Brown suggested that "a new tunnel ... conceal the relocated tracks and re-grading of the site to elevate it over the tunnel. These modifications would eliminate the elevated and surface tracks and open up the views to the river." Although rejected by NPS architect Charles Peterson
, Brown's proposal formed the basis for the ultimate settlement.
, the National Park Service Director, the design of the memorial, asserting that the memorial should be "transcending in spiritual and aesthetic values," best represented by "one central feature: a single shaft, a building, an arch, or something else that would symbolize American culture and civilization."
The idea of an architectural competition to determine the design of the memorial was favored at the JNEMA's inaugural meeting. They planned to award cash for the best design. In January 1945, the JNEMA officially announced a two-stage design competition that would cost $225,000 to organize. Smith and the JNEMA struggled to raise the funds, garnering only a third of the required total by June 1945. Then mayor Aloys Kaufmann
feared that the lack of public support would lead officials to abandon hope in the project. The passage of a year brought little success, and Smith frantically underwrote
the remaining $40,000 in May 1946. By June, Smith found others to assume portions of his underwriting, with $17,000 remaining under his sponsorship. In February 1947, the underwriters were compensated, and the fund stood over $231,199.
Local architect Louis LaBeaume prepared a set of specifications for the design, and architect George Howe
was chosen to coordinate the competition. On May 30, 1947, the contest officially opened. The seven-member jury that would judge the designs comprised Charles Nagel Jr.
, Richard Neutra
, Roland Wank
, William Wurster
, LaBeaume, Fiske Kimball
, and S. Herbert Hare. The competition comprised two stages—the first to narrow down the designers to five and the second to single out one architect and his design. The design intended to include:
Saarinen's team included himself as designer, J. Henderson Barr as associate designer, and Dan Kiley
as landscape architect, as well as Lily Swann Saarinen as sculptor and Alexander Girard
as painter. In the first stage of the competition, Carl Milles
advised Saarinen to change the bases of each leg to triangles instead of squares. Saarinen said that he "worked at first with mathematical shapes, but finally adjusted it according to the eye." At submission, Saarinen's plans laid out the arch at 509 feet (155.1 m) tall and 592 feet (180.4 m) wide from center to center of the triangle bases.
On September 1, 1947, submissions for the first stage were received by the jury. The submissions were labeled by numbers only, and the names of the designers were kept anonymous. Upon four days of deliberation, the jury narrowed down the 172 submissions, which included Saarinen's father Eliel
, to five finalists, and announced the corresponding numbers to the media on September 27. Saarinen's design (#144) was among the finalists, and comments written on it included "relevant, beautiful, perhaps inspired would be the right word" (Wank) and "an abstract form peculiarly happy in its symbolism" (Nagel). Hare questioned the feasibility of the design but appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it. Local St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong
was also one of the finalists. The secretary who sent out the telegrams informing finalists of their advancement mistakenly sent one to Eliel rather than Eero. The family celebrated with champagne, and two hours later, a competition representative called to correct the mistake. Eliel "'broke out a second bottle of champagne' to toast his son."
They proceeded to the second stage, and each were given a $10,000 prize. Saarinen changed the height of the arch from 580 feet to 630 feet (192 m) and wrote that the arch symbolized "the gateway to the West, the national expansion, and whatnot." He wanted the landscape surrounding the arch to "be so densely covered with trees that it will be a forest-like park, a green retreat from the tension of the downtown city," according to The New York Times
architectural critic Aline Bernstein Louchheim The deadline for the second stage arrived on February 10, 1948, and on February 18, the jury chose Saarinen's design unanimously, praising its "profoundly evocative and truly monumental expression." The following day, during a formal dinner at Statler Hotel
that the finalists and the media attended, Wurster pronounced Saarinen the winner of the competition and awarded the checks—$40,000 to his team and $50,000 to Saarinen. The competition was the first major architectural design that Saarinen developed unaided by his father.
On May 25, the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission endorsed the design. Later, in June, the NPS approved the proposal. Representative H. R. Gross, however, opposed the allocation of federal funds for the arch's development.
The design drew varied responses. In a February 29, 1948, The New York Times
article, Louchheim praised the arch's design as "a modern monument, fitting, beautiful and impressive." Some local residents likened it to a "stupendous hairpin and a stainless steel hitching post." The most aggressive criticism emerged from Gilmore D. Clarke
, whose February 26, 1948, letter compared Saarinen's arch to an arch imagined by fascist Benito Mussolini
, rendering the arch a fascist symbol. This allegation of plagiarism ignited fierce debates among architects about its validity. Douglas Haskell
from New York wrote that "The use of a common form is not plagiarism.... [T]his particular accusation amounts to the filthiest smear that has been attempted by a man highly placed in the architectural profession in our generation." Wurster and the jury refuted the charges, arguing that "the arch form was not inherently fascist but was indeed part of the entire history of architecture." Saarinen considered the opposition absurd, asserting, "It's just preposterous to think that a basic form, based on a completely natural figure, should have any ideological connection."
By January 1951, Saarinen created 21 "drawings, including profiles of the Arch, scale drawings of the museums and restaurants, various parking proposals, the effect of the levee-tunnel railroad plan on the Arch footings, the Arch foundations, the Third Street Expressway, and the internal and external structure of the Arch." Fred Severud
made calculations for the arch's structure.
's office, city officials decided on the Levee-Tunnel plan, rousing JNEM members who held that the decision had been pressed through when Smith was away on vacation. Darst notified Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug of the city's selection of the Levee-Tunnel plan. Krug planned to meet with Smith and JNEM but canceled the meeting and resigned on November 11. His successor, Oscar L. Chapman
rescheduled the meeting for December 5 in Washington with St. Louis, JNEM, railroad, and Federal delegates. A day after the conference, they ratified a memorandum of understanding
as the relocation plan: "The five tracks on the levee would be replaced by three tracks, one owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad
and two by the TRRA [Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis], proceeding through a tunnel not longer than 3,000 feet. The tunnel would be approximately fifty feet west of the current elevated line." Chapman sanctioned the document on December 22, 1949. The relocation plan involved an 18 feet (5.5 m) clearance in the tunnel, lower than the regular requirement of 22 feet (6.7 m). JNEM garnered the approval of the Missouri Public Service Commission
on August 7, 1952.
Efforts to appropriate congressional funds began in January 1950 but were delayed until 1953 by the Korean War
's depletion of federal funds.
declared that the Department of the Interior and the railroads should come to an agreement on the relocation before authorization could be rehashed. In October, NPS and the TRRA decided that the TRRA would employ a surveyor endorsed by Spotts to "to survey, design, estimate, and report on" the expenses of the relocation. They chose Alfred Benesch and Associates, which released its last report on May 3, 1957, estimating the cost of two relocation plans at high values—over $11 million and over $14 million, respectively. NPS director Conrad Wirth enjoined Saarinen to make small modifications to the design. In October, Saarinen redrafted the relocation plans, suggesting:
On November 29, involved interests signed another memorandum of understanding approving Saarinen's rework; implementing it would cost about $5.053 million. On March 10, 1959, mayor Raymond Tucker
proposed that they "[drop] the tunnel idea in favor of open cuts roofed with concrete slabs," which would cost $2.684 million, $1.5 million below the cost of the approved plan. On May 12, 1958, Tucker, TRRA president Armstrong Chinn, and Missouri Pacific Railroad president Russell Dearmont entered a written agreement that "[t]he TRRA would place $500,000 in escrow for the project, and the city [would] sell $980,000 of the 1935 bonds to match the Federal contribution." Director Wirth and Secretary Seaton approved the plan on June 2.
In July 1953, Representative Leonor Sullivan
introduced H.R. 6549, a bill authorizing the allocation of no more than $5 million to build the arch. After much negotiation, both houses of Congress approved the bill in May 1954, and on May 18, 1954, then President Dwight D. Eisenhower
signed the bill into law as Public Law 361. Congress could not afford to appropriate the funds in 1955, so association president William Crowdus resorted to asking the Rockefeller
and Ford Foundation
s for $10 million. The foundations denied the request because their function as private foundation
s did not include funding national memorials. In 1956, Congress appropriated $2.64 million to be used to relocate the railroad. The remainder of the authorized appropriation was requested via six congressional bills, introduced on July 1, 1958, that revised Public Law 361 to encompass the cost of the entire memorial, increasing federal funds by $12.25 million. A month later the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of the Budget endorsed the bill, and both houses of Congress unanimously passed the bill. Eisenhower signed it into law on September 7. The NPS held off on appropriating the additional funds, as it planned to use the already appropriated funds to initiate the railroad relocation.
buildings near the arch. In April 1959, real estate developer Lewis Kitchen decided to construct two 40-level edifices across from the arch. In July, after the plan was condemned for its potential obstruction of the arch, Kitchen discussed the issue with officials. A decision was delayed for several months because Saarinen had yet to designate the arch's height, projected between 590 and 630 ft (179.8 and 192 m). By October, Mayor Tucker and Director Wirth resolved to restrict the height of buildings opposite the arch to 275 feet (83.8 m) (about 27 levels), and the city stated that plans for buildings opposite the arch would require its endorsement. Kitchen then decreased the height of his buildings, while Saarinen increased that of the arch.
Railroad relocation was the first stage of the project. On May 6, 1959, after an official conference, the Public Service Commission called for ventilation to accompany the tunnel's construction, which entailed "placing 3,000 feet of dual tracks into a tunnel 105 feet west of the elevated railroad, along with filling, grading, and trestle work." On June 8 in the Old Courthouse, eight bids for the relocation program were reviewed. The MacDonald Construction Company bid the lowest amount—$2,426,115, less than NPS' estimate of the cost—and garnered the contract. At 10:30 a.m. on June 23, 1959, the groundbreaking
ceremony occurred with Tucker's spading the first portion of earth. Wirth and Dickmann also delivered speeches.
The NPS acquired the $500,000 in escrow and transferred it to MacDonald to initiate railroad relocation. In August, demolition of the Old Rock House was complete, with workers beginning to excavate the tunnel. In November, they began shaping the tunnel's walls with concrete. Twenty-nine percent of the construction was completed by March and 95% by November. On November 17, trains began to use the new tracks. June 1962 was the projected date of fruition.
On May 16, 1959, the Senate appropriations subcommittee received from St. Louis legislators a request for $2.4911 million, of which it granted only $133,000. Wirth recommended that they reseek the funds in January 1960.
On March 10, 1959, Regional Director Howard Baker received $888,000 as the city's first subsidy for the project. On December 1, 1961, $23,003,150 in total had been authorized, with $19,657,483 already appropriated—$3,345,667 remained not yet appropriated.
determine the validity of the bids in light of the government's conditions. Following a meeting with the bidders, the committee affirmed the bids' reasonableness, and Wirth awarded the lowest bidder, MacDonald Construction Company, the contract for the construction of the arch and the visitor center. On March 14, 1962, he signed the contract and received from Tucker $2,500,000, the city's subsidy for the phase. MacDonald reduced its bid $500,000 to $11,442,418. The Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company served as the subcontractor for the shell of the arch.
In 1959, ground was broken
, and in 1961, the foundation of the structure was laid. Construction of the arch itself began on February 12, 1963, as the first steel triangle on the south leg was eased into place. These steel triangles that narrowed as they spiraled to the top were raised into place by a group of cranes and derrick
s. The arch was assembled of 142 12 feet (3.7 m)-long prefabricated
stainless steel sections. Once in place, each section had its double-walled skin filled with concrete, prestressed
with 252 tension bars
. In order to keep the partially completed legs steady, a scissors truss
was placed between them at 530 feet (161.5 m), later removed as the derricks were taken down. The whole endeavor was expected to be completed by fall 1964, in observance of St. Louis' bicentennial.
Contractor MacDonald Construction Co. arranged a 30 feet (9.1 m) tower for spectators and provided recorded accounts of the undertaking. In 1963, a million people went to observe the progress, and by 1964, local radio stations began to broadcast when large slabs of steel were to be raised into place.
The project manager of MacDonald Construction Co., Stan Wolf, said that a 62-story building was easier to build than the arch: "In a building, everything is straight up, one thing on top of another. In this arch, everything is curved."
firm predicted thirteen workers would die while building the arch, no worker was killed during the monument's construction. However, construction of the arch was still often delayed by safety checks, funding uncertainties, and legal disputes.
Civil rights activists regarded the construction of the arch as a token of racial discrimination. While African Americans worked on the arch, none were skilled laborers. On July 14, 1964, during the workers' lunchtime, civil rights protesters Percy Green and Richard Daly, both members of Congress of Racial Equality
, climbed up 125-feet on the north leg of the arch to "expose the fact that federal funds were being used to build a national monument that was racially discriminating against black contractors and skilled black workers." As the pair disregarded demands to get off, protesters on the ground demanded that at least 10% of the skilled jobs belong to African Americans. Four hours later Green and Daly dismounted from the arch, to charges of "trespassing, peace disturbance, and resisting arrest." This incident inter alia spurred the United States Department of Justice
to file the first pattern or practice case against AFL–CIO under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on February 4, 1966, but the department later called off the charges.
In 1964, the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company sued MacDonald for $665,317 for tax concerns. In 1965, NPS requested that Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel remove the prominent letters "P-D-M" (its initials) from a creeper derrick used for construction, contending that it was promotional and violated federal law with regards to advertising on national monuments. Although Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel initially refused to pursue what it considered a precarious venture, the company relented after discovering that leaving the initials would cost $225,000 and after that, $42,000 per month, and the NPS dropped its lawsuit.
On October 26, 1965, the International Association of Ironworkers delayed work to ascertain that the arch was safe. After NPS director Kenneth Chapman gave his word that conditions were "perfectly safe," construction resumed on October 27. After the discovery of 16 defects, the tram was also delayed from running. The Bi-State Development Agency
assessed that it suffered losses of $2,000 for each day the trains were stagnant.
On January 7, 1966, members of AFL–CIO deserted their work on the visitor center, refusing to work with plumbers affiliated with Congress of Industrial Unions (CIU), which represented black plumbers. A representative of AFL–CIO said, "This policy has nothing to do with race. Our experience is that these CIU members have in the past worked for substandard wages." CIU applied to the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) for an injunction
that required the AFL–CIO laborers to return to work. On February 7, Judge John Keating Regan
ruled that AFL–CIO workers had participated in a secondary boycott. By February 11, AFL–CIO resumed work on the arch, and a AFL–CIO contractor declared that ten African Americans were apprenticed for arch labor. The standstill in work lasted a month. Considering how large Federal projects often "go haywire", Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker
said, "This memorial will be like a cathedral; built slowly but surely."
and Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes
decided on a date for the topping out ceremony, but the arch was not been completed by then. The ceremony date was reset to October 17, 1965, and workers strained to meet the deadline, taking double shifts, but by October 17, the arch was still not complete. The chairman of the ceremony anticipated the ceremony to be held on October 30, a Saturday, to allow 1,500 schoolchildren, whose signatures were to be placed in a time capsule, to attend. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel set the ceremony date to October 28.
The time capsule, containing the signatures of 762,000 students and others, was welded into the keystone
before the final piece was set in place. On October 28, the arch was topped out
as then Vice President
Hubert Humphrey
observed from a helicopter. A Catholic priest and a rabbi prayed over the keystone, a 10 short tons (9.1 t), 8 feet (2.4 m)-long triangular section. It was slated to be inserted at 10:00 a.m. local time but was done 30 minutes early because thermal expansion
had constricted the 8.5-foot gap at the top by 5 inches (12.7 cm). To mitigate this, workers used fire hoses to spray water on the surface of the south leg to cool it down and make it contract. The keystone was inserted in 13 minutes, only 6 inches (15.2 cm) remained. For the next section, a hydraulic jack had to pry apart the legs six feet. The last section was left only 2.5 foot (0.762 m). By 12:00 p.m., the keystone was secured. Some filmmakers, in hope that the two legs would not meet, had chronicled every phase of construction.
The Gateway Arch was expected to open to the public by 1964, but in 1967 the public relations agency stopped forecasting the opening date. The arch's visitor center opened on June 10, 1967 and the tram began operating on July 24.
The arch was dedicated by Humphrey on May 25, 1968. He declared that the arch was "a soaring curve in the sky that links the rich heritage of yesterday with the richer future of tomorrow" and brings a "new purpose" and a "new sense of urgency to wipe out every slum." "Whatever is shoddy, whatever is ugly, whatever is waste, whatever is false, will be measured and condemned" in comparison to the Gateway Arch. About 250,000 people were expected to attend, but rain canceled the outdoor activities. The ceremony had to be transferred into an auditorium, which later became a museum.
When Stuart Udall, then Secretary of the Interior
, discussed the story of the arch, an African American person rose and hollered, "[Y]ou're all racists ... we want jobs, not arches." Behind him, a man wearing a veteran's hat jostled him, and Secret Service
personnel removed him from the room. Udall resumed his speech, unperturbed. After the dedication, Humphrey crouched beneath an exit as he waited for the rain to subside so he could walk to his vehicle. Reporters quipped with him and solicited autographs as the rain surged over a clogged seepage grill. Seeing this, Humphrey smiled, "This is ridiculous."
The cross-sections of the arch's legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from 54 feet (16.5 m) per side at the bases to 17 feet (5.2 m) per side at the top. Each wall consists of a stainless steel
skin covering a sandwich of two carbon-steel walls with reinforced concrete
in the middle from ground level to 300 feet (91.4 m), with carbon steel to the peak. The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top.
In January 1970, amid frigid temperatures, the arch shrank 3 inches (7.6 cm). Jefferson National Expansion Memorial superintendent Harry Pfanz said the contraction was normal in cold weather and that safety was not at risk.
The structural load
is supported by a stressed-skin
design. Each leg is embedded in 25980 short tons (23,568.7 MT) of concrete 44 feet (13.4 m) thick and 60 feet (18.3 m) deep. Twenty feet of the foundation is in bedrock
. The arch is resistant to earthquakes and is designed to sway up to 9 inches (22.9 cm) in either direction while withstanding winds up to 150 miles per hour (241.4 km/h). The structure weighs 42878 short tons (38,898.3 MT), of which concrete comprises 25980 ST (23,568.7 MT); structural steel interior, 2157 ST (1,956.8 MT); and the stainless steel panels that cover the exterior of the arch, 886 ST (803.8 MT). This amount of stainless steel is the most used in any one project in history. The base of each leg at ground level had to have an engineering tolerance of 1/64 in or the two legs would not meet at the top.
. Bruce Detmers and other architects expressed the geometric form in blueprints with this equation:
,
with the constants
where fc = 625.0925 ft (191 m) is the maximum height of centroid, Qb = 1262.6651 sq ft (117 m²) is the maximum cross sectional area of arch at base, Qt= 125.1406 sq ft (12 m²) is the minimum cross sectional area of arch at top, and L = 299.2239 ft (91 m) is the half width of centroid at the base.
This hyperbolic cosine function
describes the shape of a catenary
. A chain that supports only its own weight forms a catenary; in this configuration, the chain is strictly in tension. An inverted catenary arch that supports only its own weight is strictly in compression, with no shear. The catenary arch is the stablest of all other arches since "the thrust passes down through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, whereas in other arches, the pressure tends to force the legs apart." The Gateway Arch itself is not a common catenary, but a more general curve of the form y=Acosh(Bx). This makes it an inverted weighted catenary—the arch is thicker at its two bases than at its vertex. Saarinen chose a weighted catenary over a normal catenary curve because it looked less pointed and less steep. In 1959, he caused some confusion about the actual shape of the arch when he wrote, "This arch is not a true parabola
, as is often stated. Instead it is a catenary curve—the curve of a hanging chain—a curve in which the forces of thrust are continuously kept within the center of the legs of the arch." William V. Thayer, a professor of mathematics at St. Louis Community College
, later wrote to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
calling attention to the fact that the structure was a weighted catenary.
arranged a temporary lighting system for the arch so the monument could be used as the background for a visit by Pope John Paul II
. Since November 2001, the arch has been bathed in white light between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. via a system of floodlights. Designed by Randy Burkett, it comprises 44 lighting fixtures situated in four pits just below ground level.
On October 5, 2004, the U.S. Senate
, at the pressing of Senators Jim Talent
and Kit Bond
, approved a bill permitting the illumination in pink of the arch in honor of breast cancer awareness month
. Both Estee Lauder
and May Department Store Co. had championed the cause. One employee said that the arch would be a "beacon ... for the importance of prevention and finding a cure." While the National Park Service took issue with the plan due to the precedent it would set for prospective uses of the arch, it yielded due to a realization that it and Congress were "on the same team" and because the illumination was legally obligatory; on October 25, the plan was carried out. The previous time the arch was illuminated was on September 12, 1995, under the management of local companies Fleishman-Hillard
and Technical Productions. A rainbow spectrum was shone on the arch to publicize the debut of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
' Wizard of Oz on Ice at the Scottrade Center
(then named the "Kiel Center").
In April 1965, three million tourists were expected to visit the arch after completion; 619,763 tourists visited the top of the arch in its first year open. On January 15, 1969, a visitor from Nashville
, Tennessee
became the one-millionth person to reach the observation area; the ten-millionth person ascended to the top on August 24, 1979. Currently, the Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with over four million visitors annually, out of which around one million travel to the top. The arch was listed as a National Historic Landmark
on June 2, 1987, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
On December 8, 2009, sponsored by nonprofit CityArchRiver2015, the international design competition "Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015" commenced. It aimed to "design a plan to improve the riverfront park landscape, ease access for pedestrians across Memorial Drive and expand onto the East St. Louis riverfront," as well as to lure visitors. The contest consisted of three stages—portfolio assessment (narrowed down to 8–10 teams), team interviews (narrowed down to 4–5 teams), and review of design proposals. The competition received 49 applicants, which were narrowed down to five in the first two stages. On August 17, 2010, the designs of the five finalists were revealed to the public and exhibited at the theater below the arch. On August 26, the finalists made their cases to an eight-member jury, and on September 21, the winner was revealed—Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The company's plans include a gondola lift
across the Mississippi River, using more land to the east of the river, and sealing Memorial Drive
. The NPS' initial estimate of the cost ($305 million) was raised to $578 million. The execution of the design is set to be completed by October 28, 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the arch's topping out.
program. The 70000 ft2 center is located directly below the arch, between its legs. Although construction on the visitor center began at the same time as construction for the arch itself, it did not conclude until 1976 because of insufficient funding; however, the center opened with several exhibits on June 10, 1967. Access to the visitor center is provided through ramps adjacent to each leg of the arch.
The center houses offices, mechanical room
s, and waiting areas for the arch trams, as well as its main attractions: the Museum of Westward Expansion and two theaters displaying films about the arch. The older theater opened in May 1972; the newer theater, called the Odyssey Theatre, was constructed in the 1990s and features a four-story-tall screen. Its construction required the expansion of the underground complex, and workers had to excavate solid rock while keeping the disruption to a minimum so the museum could remain open. The museum houses several hundred exhibits about the United States' westward expansion in the 19th century and opened on August 10, 1977.
Near the top of the arch, passengers exit the tram compartment and climb a slight grade to enter the arched observation area. There are 32 windows (16 per side), each measuring 7 by 27 in (177.8 by 685.8 mm) and allowing views across the Mississippi River
and southern Illinois
with its prominent Mississippian culture
mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, as well as the city of St. Louis
and St. Louis County
to the west beyond the city. The observation deck, 65 feet (19.8 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, has a capacity of about 160 passengers—the capacity of four trams. On a clear day, one can see up to 30 miles (48.3 km) from atop the arch.
There are three modes of transportation up the arch: two sets of 1,076-step emergency stairs (one in each leg), a 12-passenger elevator to the 372 feet (113.4 m) height, and a tram in each leg.
Because of a lack of funds in March 1962, the NPS did not accept bids for the arch's internal train system and considered discarding the idea. In May 1962, the quasi-governmental Bi-State Development Agency
proposed that it issue revenue bonds to obtain the required funds. The Department of the Interior and Bi-State entered into an agreement where Bi-State would construct and operate the tram. Bi-State would have to raise $1,977,750 for the construction of the tram system. It retired the bonds by setting a $1 riding fee to the top. Two months later, the agency had already received 45 advance reservations for seats on the tram.
Bi-State put in $3.3 million revenue bond
s and has operated the tram system since. The tram in the north leg entered operation in June 1967, but visitors were forced to endure three-hour long waits until April 21, 1976, when a reservation system was put in place. As of 2007, the trams have traveled 250000 miles (402,335 km), conveying more than 25 million passengers.
Each tram is a chain of eight egg-shaped, five-seat compartments with a small window on the doors. As each tram has a capacity of 40 passengers and there are two trams, 80 passengers can be transported at one time, with trams departing from the ground every 10 minutes. The cars swing like Ferris-wheel
cars as they ascend and descend the arch. This fashion of movement gave rise to the idea of the tram as "half-Ferris wheel and half-elevator." The trip to the top takes four minutes, and the trip down takes three minutes. At the top, passengers disembark to a 65 feet (19.8 m)-long observation area.
On July 21, 2007, a broken cable forced the south tram to be shut down, leaving only the north tram in service until repairs were completed in March 2008. Around 200 tourists were stuck inside the arch for up to three hours because the severed cable contacted a high-voltage rail, causing a fuse to blow. The north tram was temporarily affected by the power outage as well, but some passengers were able to exit the arch through the emergency stairs and elevator. It was about two hours until all the tram riders safely descended, while those in the observation area at the time of the outage had to wait an additional hour before being able to travel back down. An arch official said the visitors, most of whom stayed calm during the ordeal, were not in any danger; they were later given refunds. The incident occurred while visitors in the arch were watching a fireworks display, and no one was seriously injured in the event. However, two people received medical treatment; one person needed oxygen
and the other was diabetic. Almost immediately after the tram returned to service, however, it was closed again for new repairs after an electrical switch broke. The incident, which occurred on March 14, 2008, was billed as a "bad coincidence."
On the morning of February 9, 2011, a National Park Service worker was injured while performing repairs on the south tram. The 55-year-old was working on the tram's electrical system when he was trapped between it and the arch wall for around 30 seconds, until being saved by other workers. Emergency officials treated the injured NPS employee at the arch's top before taking him to Saint Louis University Hospital
in serious condition.
On March 24, 2011, around one hundred visitors were stranded in the observation area for 45 minutes after the doors of the south tram refused to close. The tourists were safely brought down the arch in the north tram, which had been closed that week so officials could upgrade it with a new electronic transportation system. The National Park Service later attributed the malfunction to a computer glitch associated with the new system, which had already been implemented with the south tram. No one was hurt in the occurrence, but the arch suffered a slight loss in spring break
tourism revenue.
Around 2:15 p.m. local time on June 16, 2011, the arch's north tram stalled due to a power outage. The tram became stuck about 200 feet (61 m) from the observation deck, and passengers eventually were told to climb the stairs to the observation area. It took National Park Service workers about one hour to manually pull the tram to the top, and the 40 trapped passengers were able to return down on the south tram, which had previously not been operating that day because there was not an abundance of visitors. An additional 120 people were at the observation deck at the time of the outage and also exited via the south tram. During the outage, visitors were stuck in the tram with neither lighting nor air conditioning. No one was seriously injured in the incident, but one visitor lost consciousness after suffering a panic attack
, and a park ranger was taken away with minor injuries. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.
cautioned that aviators who flew between the legs of the arch would be fined and their licenses revoked; however, at least ten pilots have disobeyed this order, with the first occurrence on June 22, 1966. In 1973, Nikki Caplan was granted an FAA exception to fly a hot air balloon
between the arch's legs as part of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race
. The St. Louis park director accompanied her on the flight as the balloon hit the arch and plummeted 70 feet at one point.
The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
propelled the consideration of a counterterrorism program. Two years later, a little over $1 million was granted to institute such a program. Park officials were trained to note the activity of tourists, and inconspicuous electronic detection devices were installed. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, security efforts were more prominent, security checkpoints moved to the entrance of the visitor center. At the checkpoints, visitors are screened by magnetometers and x-ray
equipment, devices which have been in place since 1997.
The arch also became one of several U.S. monuments placed under restricted airspace
during 2002 Fourth of July celebrations. In 2003, 10-feet long, 32-inch high, 4100-lb movable Jersey barrier
s were installed to impede terrorist attacks on the arch. Later that year, it was announced that these walls were to be replaced by concrete posts encased in metal to be more harmonious with the steel color of the arch. The movable bollard
s can be manipulated from the park's dispatch center, which has also been upgraded.
In 2006, arch officials hired a "physical security specialist," replacing a law enforcement officer. The responsibilities of the specialist include risk assessment
, testing the park's security system, increasing security awareness of other employees, and working with other government agencies to improve the arch's security procedures.
s were permitted to fly through the legs of the arch as part of Fourth of July festivities. However, the arch has been a target of various other stunt performer
s, and while such feats are generally forbidden, several people have parachuted to or from the arch regardless. In June 1980, the National Park Service declined a request by television producers to have a performer jump from the arch; a similar appeal by stuntman Dan Koko was also turned away in February 1986. Koko, who was a stunt double
Superman, wanted to perform the leap during Fourth of July celebrations.
On November 22, 1980, at about 8:45 a.m. CST, 33-year-old Kenneth Swyers of Overland, Missouri
, parachuted on to the top of the arch. (His plan was to release his main parachute and then jump off the arch using his reserve parachute, a "BASE" jump). Unfortunately, after landing the wind blew him to the side, and he slid down the north leg to his death. The accident was witnessed by several people, including Swyers' wife, also a parachutist. She said her husband "was not a hot dog, daredevil skydiver" and that he had prepared for the jump two weeks in advance. Swyers, who had made over 1,600 jumps before the incident, was reported by one witness to have "landed very well" on the top of the arch, but "had no footing." Swyers was reportedly blown to the top of the arch by the wind and was unable to save himself when his reserve parachute failed to deploy. The Federal Aviation Administration said the jump was unauthorized, and investigated the pilot involved in the incident.
On December 27, 1980, St. Louis television station KTVI
reported receiving calls from supposed witnesses of another stunt landing. The alleged parachutist, who claimed to be a retired professional stuntman, was said to be wearing a Santa Claus
costume when he jumped off an airplane around 8:00 a.m. CST, parachuted onto the arch, grasped the monument's beacon, and used the same chute to glide down unharmed. KTVI said it was told the feat was done as an act of homage to Swyers, and "apparently was a combination of a dare, a drunk and a tribute." On the day after the alleged incident, authorities labeled the jump a hoax. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said no calls were received about the jump until after it was detailed on the news, and the Federal Aviation Administration said the two calls it had received were very similar. One caller also left an out-of-service phone number, while the other never followed up with investigators. Arch officials said they did not witness any such jump, and photos provided by the alleged parachutist were unclear.
On September 14, 1992, 25-year-old John C. Vincent climbed to the top of the Gateway Arch using suction cup
s and proceeded to parachute back to the ground. He was later charged with two misdemeanor
s: climbing a national monument and parachuting in a national park. Federal prosecutor
Stephen Higgins called the act a "great stunt" but said it was "something the Park Service doesn't take lightly." Vincent, a construction worker and diver from Harvey
, Louisiana
, said he did it "just for the excitement, just for the thrill," and had previously parachuted off the World Trade Center
in May 1991. He said that scaling the arch "wasn't that hard" and had considered a jump off the monument for a few months. In an interview, Vincent said he visited the arch's observation area a month before the stunt, to see if he could use a maintenance hatch for accessing monument's peak. Due to the heavy security, he instead decided to climb up the arch's exterior using suction cups, which he had used before to scale shorter buildings. Dressed in black, Vincent began crawling up the arch around 3:30 a.m. CST on September 14 and arrived undetected at the top around 5:45 a.m., taking an additional 75 minutes to rest and take photos before finally jumping. During this time, he was seen by two traffic reporters inside the One Metropolitan Square
skyscraper.
Vincent was also spotted mid-air by Deryl Stone, a Chief Ranger for the National Park Service. Stone reported seeing Vincent grab his parachute after landing and run to a nearby car, which quickly drove away. However, authorities were able to detain two men on the ground who had been videotaping the jump. Stone said 37-year-old Ronald Carroll and 27-year-old Robert Weinzetl, both St. Louis residents, were found with a wireless communication headset and a video camera, as well as a still camera with a telephoto lens
. The two were also charged with two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct and commercial photography in a national park. Vincent later turned himself in and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. However, he eventually accepted a guilty plea deal in which he testified against Carroll and Weinzetl, revealing that the two consented to recording the jump during a meeting of all three on the day before his stunt occurred. Federal magistrate judge
David D. Noce ruled on January 28, 1993 that Carroll had been involved in a conspiracy
and was guilty of both misdemeanor charges; the charges against Weinzetl had been dropped by federal attorneys. In his decision, Noce stated, "There are places in our country where the sufficiently skilled can savor the exhilaration and personal satisfaction of accomplishing courageous and intrepid acts, of reaching dreamed-of heights and for coursing dangerous adventures," but added that other places are designed for "the exhilaration of mere observation and for the appreciation of the imaginings and the works of others. The St. Louis Arch and the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial are in the latter category."
The arch has also appeared as a symbol of Missouri state. On November 22, 2002, at the Missouri State Capitol
, Lori Hauser Holden, wife of then Governor Bob Holden
uncovered the winning design for a Missouri coin design competition as part of the Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program. Designed by watercolorist Paul Jackson
, the coin portrays "three members of the Lewis and Clark expedition
paddling a boat on the Missouri River upon returning to St. Louis" with the arch as the backdrop. Holden said that the arch was "a symbol for the entire state .... Four million visitors each year see the Arch. [The coin] will help make it even more loved worldwide."
A special license plate designed by Arnold Worldwide
featured the arch, labeled with "." Profits earned from selling the plates would fund the museum and other educational components of the arch.
Louchheim wrote that although the arch "has a simplicity which should guarantee timeliness", it is entirely modern as well because of the innovative design and its scientific considerations. In The Dallas Morning News
, architectural critic David Dillon opined that the arch exists not as a functional edifice but as a symbol of "boundless American optimism". He articulates the arch's multiple "moods"—"reflective in sunlight, soft and pewterish in mist; crisp as a line drawing one moment, chimerical the next"—as a way the arch has "paid for itself many times over in wonder".
In February 1997, Dutch composer Peter Schat
was struck by the skill of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
as they performed one of his compositions under the conduct of Hans Vonk. He commissioned the orchestra, with plans "to create a musical equivalent to Eero Saarinen's monumental Gateway Arch." By October of the same year, he finished the composition, which was called Arch Music for St. Louis, Op. 44. It premiered on January 8, 1999, at the Powell Symphony Hall
. Since Schat did not ascend the arch due to his fear of heights, he used his creativity to depict in music someone riding a tram to the top of the arch:
Paul Muldoon
's "The Stoic" also references the Gateway Arch. The poem, "an elegy for a miscarried foetus," describes Muldoon's ordeal standing under the Gateway Arch after his wife telephoned and informed him that the baby they were expecting had been miscarried. During the writing process, Muldoon said, "I've this notion ... that there might be some connection between standing underneath [the Gateway Arch] ... and feeling something of the despair that figures in Ozymandias
, and the bleakness and just the terrible isolation of this moment.... I see the Gateway Arch as being a modem version of the two vast and trunkless legs of stone." A portion of the published poem read: "Rather than shudder like a bow of yew or the matchless Osage orange / at the thought of our child already lost from view / before it had quite come into range, / I steadied myself under the Gateway Arch." Iain Twiddy of Oxford Journals wrote that the arch "echoes the 'iced-over canal' of the poem's opening, or the birth canal" and that the mirror-image rhyme scheme of the poem, abab cdcd efgf fgfe dcdc baba, is an allusion to the Gateway Arch or the "cervical opening of the poem, as a monument to the dead."
Some have questioned whether St. Louis really was—as Saarinen said—the "Gateway to the West"; Kansas City
-born "deadline poet" Calvin Trillin
has commented on this when comparing himself with poet T. S. Eliot
, a St. Louis native:
for being "an outstanding achievement in technology and aesthetics." On February 9, 1967, the arch received the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of 1967 from the American Society of Civil Engineers
. The arch was once among Travel + Leisure
s unofficial rankings for the most-visited attraction in the world, after Lenin's Tomb
, Disney World
, Disneyland, and the Eiffel Tower
. On February 22, 1990, the arch received the American Institute of Architects
' (AIA) Twenty-Five Year Award for its "enduring significance that has withstood the test of time." It was declared "a symbolic bridge between East and West, past and future, engineering and art" that "embodies the boundless optimism of a growing nation." In 2007, the arch was ranked fourteenth on the AIA's "America's Favorite Architecture" list.
in an environment that often causes rain inside. Maintenance workers currently use mops and a temporary setup of water containers to mitigate the problem. According to NPS documents, the corrosion and rust pose no safety issues.
In 2006, architectural specialists studied the corrosion on the arch and suggested additional examination. A 2010 Historic Structure Report was conducted and found that the corrosion required a more comprehensive study. In September 2010, the NPS granted Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
a contract for a structural study that would "gather data about the condition of the Arch to enable experts to develop and implement the right long-term solutions."
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary
Catenary
In physics and geometry, the catenary is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola...
arch.
The arch is located at the site of St. Louis' foundation, on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède
Pierre Laclède
Pierre Laclède or Pierre Laclède Liguest was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, founded St...
, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau
René Auguste Chouteau
Rene Auguste Chouteau , also known as Auguste Chouteau, was founder of St. Louis, Missouri, a successful fur trader and a politician. He and his partner had a monopoly for many years of fur trade with the large Osage tribe on the Missouri River...
, to build a city.
The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish American
Finnish American
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number about 700,000.-History:Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, that existed in mid-17th century....
architect Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel
Hannskarl Bandel
Hannskarl Bandel , was a German American structural engineer.-Early life:...
in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time (approximately $ today). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.
Background
Inception and early funding (1933–1935)
In late 1933, civic leader Luther Ely SmithLuther Ely Smith
Luther Ely Smith was a St. Louis, Missouri lawyer, civic booster and is called by the National Park Service the "father of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial."-Early life:Smith was born in Downers Grove, Illinois...
, returning to St. Louis from the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, located in Vincennes on the banks of the Wabash River at what is believed to be the site of Fort Sackville, is a United States National Historical Park. A classical memorial here was authorized under President Calvin Coolidge and dedicated by President...
in Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
, beheld the crumbling St. Louis riverfront area and envisioned that building a memorial there would both revive the riverfront and stimulate the economy. He communicated his idea to mayor Bernard Dickmann, who on December 15, 1933, raised it in a meeting with city leaders. They sanctioned the proposal, and the nonprofit Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (JNEMA—pronounced "Jenny May") was formed. Smith was appointed chairman and Dickmann vice chairman. The association's goal was to create:
Many locals did not approve of depleting public funds for the cause. SaLees, Smith's daughter, related that when "people would tell him we needed more practical things", he would respond that "spiritual things" were equally important.
The association expected that $30 million would be needed to undertake the construction of such a monument. It called upon the federal government to foot three-fourths of the bill ($22.5 million).
The suggestion to renew the riverfront was not original, as previous projects were attempted but lacked popularity. The Jefferson memorial idea emerged amid the economic disarray of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and promised new jobs. The project was expected to create 5,000 jobs for three to four years. Committee members began to raise public awareness by organizing fundraisers and writing pamphlets. They also engaged Congress members, planning budgets and preparing bills, in addition to researching ownership of the land they had chosen, "approximately one-half mile in length ... from Third Street east to the present elevated railroad." In January 1934, Senator Bennett Champ Clark
Bennett Champ Clark
Joel Bennett Clark , better known as Bennett Champ Clark, was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1933 until 1945, and was later a United States federal judge.-Biography:...
and Representative John Cochran
John J. Cochran
John Joseph Cochran was a U.S. Representative from Missouri.Cochran was born in Webster Groves, Missouri and attended the public schools there. He was employed in the editorial department of various St. Louis newspapers for many years, and served as assistant to the election commissioners of St...
introduced to Congress an appropriation bill
Appropriation bill
An appropriation bill or running bill is a legislative motion which authorizes the government to spend money. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending...
seeking $30 million for the memorial, but the bill failed to garner support due to the large amount of money solicited. In March of the same year, joint resolution
Joint resolution
In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and the House and is presented to the President for his/her approval or disapproval, in exactly the same case as a bill....
s proposed the establishment of a federal commission to develop the memorial. Although the proposal aimed for only authorization, the bill incurred opposition because people suspected that JNEMA would later seek appropriation. On March 28 the Senate bill was reported out, and on April 5 it was turned over to the House Library Committee, which later reported favorably on the bills. On June 8, both the Senate and House bills were passed. On June 15, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
signed the bill into law, instituting the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission. The commission comprised 15 members, chosen by Roosevelt, the House, the Senate, and JNEMA. It first convened on December 19 in St. Louis, where members examined the project and its planned location.
Meanwhile, in December, the JNEMA discussed organizing an architectural competition to determine the design of the monument. Local architect Louis LeBeaume had drawn up competition guidelines by January 1935. On April 13, 1935, the commission certified JNEMA's project proposals, including memorial perimeters, the "historical significance" of the memorial, the competition, and the $30 million budget. Between February and April, the Missouri State Legislature
Missouri General Assembly
The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate, and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are subject to term limits...
passed an act allowing the use of bond
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
s to facilitate the project. On April 15, then Governor Guy B. Park
Guy Brasfield Park
Guy Brasfield Park was a politician from the U.S. State of Missouri.Park was born in Platte City, Missouri and he graduated from law school at the University of Missouri. Park practiced law in Platte City, twice winning election to be the prosecuting attorney for Platte County...
signed it into law. Dickmann and Smith applied for funding from two New Deal agencies—the Public Works Administration
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration , part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression...
(headed by Harold Ickes
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
) and the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(headed by Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
). On August 7, both Ickes and Hopkins assented to the funding requests, each promising $10,000,000, and said that the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
(NPS) would manage the memorial. A local bond issue election granting $7.5 million for the memorial's development was held on September 10 and passed.
On December 21, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
signed Executive Order 7253 to approve the memorial, allocating the 82-acre area as the first National Historic Site
National Historic Sites (United States)
National Historic Sites are protected areas of national historic significance in the United States. A National Historic Site usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject...
. The order also appropriated $3.3 million through the WPA and $3.45 million through the PWA ($6,750,000 in total). The motivation of the project was twofold—commemorating westward expansion and creating jobs
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
. Some taxpayers began to file suits to impede the monument, which they called a "boondoggle
Boondoggle (project)
A boondoggle is a project that is considered to waste time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy motivations.- Etymology :...
".
Land acquisition, opposition, demolition, and early railroad negotiations (1936–1939)
Using the 1935 grant of $6.75 million and $2.25 million in city bonds, the NPS acquired the buildings within the historic site—through condemnation rather than purchase—and demolished them. By September 1938, condemnation was complete. The legality of the condemnation was subject to many court cases and culminated on January 27, 1939, when the United States Circuit Court of AppealsUnited States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
ruled that condemnation was valid. $6.2 million in sum was distributed to land owners on June 14. Demolition commenced on October 10, 1939, when Dickmann extracted three bricks from a vacant warehouse.
Led by Paul Peters, adversaries of the memorial delivered to congressmembers in Washington, D.C., a leaflet titled "Public Necessity or Just Plain Pork". The JNEMA's lawyer, Bon Geaslin, found that the flyers did not taint the project but motivated congressmembers to find out more about the project. Although Representative John Cochran wanted to ask Congress to approve more funds, Geaslin believed the association should "keep a low profile, maintaining its current position during this session of Congress". He advised the association to "get a good strong editorial in one of the papers to the effect that a small group of tenants ... is soliciting funds [to fight] the proposed improvement, and stating that these efforts do not represent the consensus of opinion in St. Louis ..., and pointing out that such obstructions should be condemned".
Congress's reduction in spending made it impossible for the allocated funds to be obtained. NPS responded that the city would reduce their funding if the Feds did. It also advanced that the funds were sanctioned by an executive order, but superintendent John Nagle was cautious: what "one Executive Order does, another can undo". In March 1936, Representative Cochran commented during a House meeting that he "would not vote for any measure providing for building the memorial or allotting funds to it". Geaslin found Cochran's statements to be a greater hindrance to the project than Paul Peters' opposition, for Congress may see Cochran's opinions as representative of public opinion.
Peters and other opposition asked Roosevelt to rescind Executive Order 7253 and to redirect the money to the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
. Smith impugned their motives, accusing them of being "opposed to anything that is ever advanced in behalf of the city." In February 1936, a The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
editorial written by Paul W. Ward denounced the project. Smith was infuriated, fearing the impact of attacks from a prestigious magazine, and wanted "to jump on it strong with hammer and tongs". William Allen White
William Allen White
William Allen White was a renowned American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement...
, a renowned newspaper editor, advised Smith not to fret.
Because the Mississippi River played an essential role in establishing St. Louis' identity as the gateway to the west, a memorial commemorating it should be near the river. Railroad tracks that had been constructed in the 1930s on the levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
obstructed views of the riverfront from the memorial. When Ickes declared that the railway must be removed before he would allocate funds for the memorial, President of the St. Louis Board of Public Service Baxter Brown suggested that "a new tunnel ... conceal the relocated tracks and re-grading of the site to elevate it over the tunnel. These modifications would eliminate the elevated and surface tracks and open up the views to the river." Although rejected by NPS architect Charles Peterson
Charles E. Peterson
Charles Emil Peterson is widely considered to be a seminal figure in professionalizing the practice of historic preservation in the United States...
, Brown's proposal formed the basis for the ultimate settlement.
Design competition (1945–1948)
In November 1944, Smith discussed with Newton DruryNewton B. Drury
Newton Bishop Drury was the fourth director of the American National Park Service and the executive director of the Save-the-Redwoods League.-Early life and career:...
, the National Park Service Director, the design of the memorial, asserting that the memorial should be "transcending in spiritual and aesthetic values," best represented by "one central feature: a single shaft, a building, an arch, or something else that would symbolize American culture and civilization."
The idea of an architectural competition to determine the design of the memorial was favored at the JNEMA's inaugural meeting. They planned to award cash for the best design. In January 1945, the JNEMA officially announced a two-stage design competition that would cost $225,000 to organize. Smith and the JNEMA struggled to raise the funds, garnering only a third of the required total by June 1945. Then mayor Aloys Kaufmann
Aloys P. Kaufmann
Aloys P. Kaufmann was the thirty-sixth Mayor of St. Louis, serving from 1943 to 1949....
feared that the lack of public support would lead officials to abandon hope in the project. The passage of a year brought little success, and Smith frantically underwrote
Underwriting
Underwriting refers to the process that a large financial service provider uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products . The name derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market...
the remaining $40,000 in May 1946. By June, Smith found others to assume portions of his underwriting, with $17,000 remaining under his sponsorship. In February 1947, the underwriters were compensated, and the fund stood over $231,199.
Local architect Louis LaBeaume prepared a set of specifications for the design, and architect George Howe
George Howe (architect)
George Howe was an American architect and educator, and an early convert to the International style. With William Lescaze, he designed Philadelphia's PSFS Building .-Biography:...
was chosen to coordinate the competition. On May 30, 1947, the contest officially opened. The seven-member jury that would judge the designs comprised Charles Nagel Jr.
Charles Nagel (architect)
Charles Nagel, Jr. was a Saint Louis, Missouri architect and museum director. He was the son of Charles Nagel, a lawyer and politician. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1928 with an M.F.A. in architecture...
, Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
, Roland Wank
Roland Wank
Roland A. Wank was a Hungarian modernist architect, best known for his work for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States.Wank was educated at the Royal Joseph Technical University in Budapest...
, William Wurster
William Wurster
William Wilson Wurster was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley and at MIT, best known for his residential designs in California. - Biography :...
, LaBeaume, Fiske Kimball
Fiske Kimball
Fiske Kimball was an American architect, architectural historian and museum director.-Biography:Kimball was born in Newton, Massachusetts on December 8, 1888....
, and S. Herbert Hare. The competition comprised two stages—the first to narrow down the designers to five and the second to single out one architect and his design. The design intended to include:
Saarinen's team included himself as designer, J. Henderson Barr as associate designer, and Dan Kiley
Dan Kiley
Daniel Urban Kiley was a noted American landscape architect in the modernist style.- Life and career :Kiley was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
as landscape architect, as well as Lily Swann Saarinen as sculptor and Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect and a textile designer born in New York City to an American mother from Boston and a French-Italian father. He was raised in Florence, Italy...
as painter. In the first stage of the competition, Carl Milles
Carl Milles
Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor, best known for his fountains. He was married to artist Olga Milles and brother to Ruth Milles and half brother to the architect Evert Milles...
advised Saarinen to change the bases of each leg to triangles instead of squares. Saarinen said that he "worked at first with mathematical shapes, but finally adjusted it according to the eye." At submission, Saarinen's plans laid out the arch at 509 feet (155.1 m) tall and 592 feet (180.4 m) wide from center to center of the triangle bases.
On September 1, 1947, submissions for the first stage were received by the jury. The submissions were labeled by numbers only, and the names of the designers were kept anonymous. Upon four days of deliberation, the jury narrowed down the 172 submissions, which included Saarinen's father Eliel
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
, to five finalists, and announced the corresponding numbers to the media on September 27. Saarinen's design (#144) was among the finalists, and comments written on it included "relevant, beautiful, perhaps inspired would be the right word" (Wank) and "an abstract form peculiarly happy in its symbolism" (Nagel). Hare questioned the feasibility of the design but appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it. Local St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong
Harris Armstrong
Harris Armstrong was an American regional modernist architect, considered the dean of modernists active in St. Louis, Missouri.After working in the office of Raymond Hood in the 1930s, Armstrong returned to St...
was also one of the finalists. The secretary who sent out the telegrams informing finalists of their advancement mistakenly sent one to Eliel rather than Eero. The family celebrated with champagne, and two hours later, a competition representative called to correct the mistake. Eliel "'broke out a second bottle of champagne' to toast his son."
They proceeded to the second stage, and each were given a $10,000 prize. Saarinen changed the height of the arch from 580 feet to 630 feet (192 m) and wrote that the arch symbolized "the gateway to the West, the national expansion, and whatnot." He wanted the landscape surrounding the arch to "be so densely covered with trees that it will be a forest-like park, a green retreat from the tension of the downtown city," according to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
architectural critic Aline Bernstein Louchheim The deadline for the second stage arrived on February 10, 1948, and on February 18, the jury chose Saarinen's design unanimously, praising its "profoundly evocative and truly monumental expression." The following day, during a formal dinner at Statler Hotel
Hotel Statler (St. Louis, Missouri)
The Renaissance Grand Hotel is a remodelled and expanded hotel located on the Washington Avenue Loft District in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It is 256 feet 23 floors tall. It was designed by George C. Post and was built in 1917 as part of the Statler Hotels. It was the first air-conditioned hotel...
that the finalists and the media attended, Wurster pronounced Saarinen the winner of the competition and awarded the checks—$40,000 to his team and $50,000 to Saarinen. The competition was the first major architectural design that Saarinen developed unaided by his father.
On May 25, the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission endorsed the design. Later, in June, the NPS approved the proposal. Representative H. R. Gross, however, opposed the allocation of federal funds for the arch's development.
The design drew varied responses. In a February 29, 1948, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article, Louchheim praised the arch's design as "a modern monument, fitting, beautiful and impressive." Some local residents likened it to a "stupendous hairpin and a stainless steel hitching post." The most aggressive criticism emerged from Gilmore D. Clarke
Gilmore David Clarke
Gilmore David Clarke was an American civil engineer and landscape architect who designed many parks and public spaces in New York City....
, whose February 26, 1948, letter compared Saarinen's arch to an arch imagined by fascist Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
, rendering the arch a fascist symbol. This allegation of plagiarism ignited fierce debates among architects about its validity. Douglas Haskell
Douglas Haskell
Douglas Putnam Haskell was an American writer, architecture critic and magazine editor. Today he is widely known for his 1952 coinage of the term Googie architecture in a 1952 article in House and Home magazine....
from New York wrote that "The use of a common form is not plagiarism.... [T]his particular accusation amounts to the filthiest smear that has been attempted by a man highly placed in the architectural profession in our generation." Wurster and the jury refuted the charges, arguing that "the arch form was not inherently fascist but was indeed part of the entire history of architecture." Saarinen considered the opposition absurd, asserting, "It's just preposterous to think that a basic form, based on a completely natural figure, should have any ideological connection."
By January 1951, Saarinen created 21 "drawings, including profiles of the Arch, scale drawings of the museums and restaurants, various parking proposals, the effect of the levee-tunnel railroad plan on the Arch footings, the Arch foundations, the Third Street Expressway, and the internal and external structure of the Arch." Fred Severud
Fred Severud
Fred N. Severud was a Norwegian-American structural engineer, whose projects include the St. Louis Gateway Arch and Madison Square Garden in New York City.-Background:...
made calculations for the arch's structure.
Railroad agreement (1949–1952)
There were several plans for the relocation of the railroad. The so-called La Beaume-Terminal plan, opposed by Saarinen and the NPS, proposed "three tracks on a contained fill along the lines of the elevated tracks." The Bowen plan and the Bates-Ross plan recommended that a tunnel enclose the tracks, which would cross the memorial site diagonally. Saarinen warned that should the railroad be located between the memorial and the river, he would not architect the memorial. The Levee-Tunnel plan, proposed by Frank J. McDevitt, president of the St. Louis Board of Public Service, proposed to lower the tracks into a tunnel concealed by walls and landscaping. The Hill-Tunnel plan, supported by Saarinen and NPS engineer Julian Spotts, favored a tunnel below Second and First Streets to contain the tracks. On July 7, 1949, in Mayor Joseph DarstJoseph Darst
Joseph M. Darst was the thirty-seventh Mayor of St. Louis, serving from 1949 to 1953....
's office, city officials decided on the Levee-Tunnel plan, rousing JNEM members who held that the decision had been pressed through when Smith was away on vacation. Darst notified Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug of the city's selection of the Levee-Tunnel plan. Krug planned to meet with Smith and JNEM but canceled the meeting and resigned on November 11. His successor, Oscar L. Chapman
Oscar L. Chapman
Oscar Littleton Chapman was the United States Secretary of the Interior during thelast three years of the Truman administration....
rescheduled the meeting for December 5 in Washington with St. Louis, JNEM, railroad, and Federal delegates. A day after the conference, they ratified a memorandum of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
as the relocation plan: "The five tracks on the levee would be replaced by three tracks, one owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
and two by the TRRA [Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis], proceeding through a tunnel not longer than 3,000 feet. The tunnel would be approximately fifty feet west of the current elevated line." Chapman sanctioned the document on December 22, 1949. The relocation plan involved an 18 feet (5.5 m) clearance in the tunnel, lower than the regular requirement of 22 feet (6.7 m). JNEM garnered the approval of the Missouri Public Service Commission
Missouri Public Service Commission
The Missouri Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned telephone, electric, natural gas, steam, water, and sewer utilities in the state of Missouri. Manufacturers and retail dealers who sell new and used manufactured homes and modular units are also regulated by the commission.The PSC is...
on August 7, 1952.
Efforts to appropriate congressional funds began in January 1950 but were delayed until 1953 by the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
's depletion of federal funds.
Amendment of railroad agreement and authorization (1953–1958)
In August 1953, the relocation controversy reemerged when Secretary of the Interior Fred A. SeatonFred Andrew Seaton
Frederick Andrew Seaton was United States Secretary of the Interior during Dwight Eisenhower's administration.-Biography:Seaton was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up and attended high school in Manhattan, Kansas...
declared that the Department of the Interior and the railroads should come to an agreement on the relocation before authorization could be rehashed. In October, NPS and the TRRA decided that the TRRA would employ a surveyor endorsed by Spotts to "to survey, design, estimate, and report on" the expenses of the relocation. They chose Alfred Benesch and Associates, which released its last report on May 3, 1957, estimating the cost of two relocation plans at high values—over $11 million and over $14 million, respectively. NPS director Conrad Wirth enjoined Saarinen to make small modifications to the design. In October, Saarinen redrafted the relocation plans, suggesting:
On November 29, involved interests signed another memorandum of understanding approving Saarinen's rework; implementing it would cost about $5.053 million. On March 10, 1959, mayor Raymond Tucker
Raymond Tucker
Raymond Tucker was the thirty-eighth Mayor of St. Louis, serving from 1953 to 1965.- Personal life and early career :...
proposed that they "[drop] the tunnel idea in favor of open cuts roofed with concrete slabs," which would cost $2.684 million, $1.5 million below the cost of the approved plan. On May 12, 1958, Tucker, TRRA president Armstrong Chinn, and Missouri Pacific Railroad president Russell Dearmont entered a written agreement that "[t]he TRRA would place $500,000 in escrow for the project, and the city [would] sell $980,000 of the 1935 bonds to match the Federal contribution." Director Wirth and Secretary Seaton approved the plan on June 2.
In July 1953, Representative Leonor Sullivan
Leonor Sullivan
Leonor Kretzer Sullivan was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri. She was a Democrat and the first woman in Congress from Missouri....
introduced H.R. 6549, a bill authorizing the allocation of no more than $5 million to build the arch. After much negotiation, both houses of Congress approved the bill in May 1954, and on May 18, 1954, then President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
signed the bill into law as Public Law 361. Congress could not afford to appropriate the funds in 1955, so association president William Crowdus resorted to asking the Rockefeller
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
and Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
s for $10 million. The foundations denied the request because their function as private foundation
Private foundation (United States)
A private foundation is a charitable organization recognized by the US Tax Code at and section 501. It is defined by a negative definition, in other words, it is defined by what it is not...
s did not include funding national memorials. In 1956, Congress appropriated $2.64 million to be used to relocate the railroad. The remainder of the authorized appropriation was requested via six congressional bills, introduced on July 1, 1958, that revised Public Law 361 to encompass the cost of the entire memorial, increasing federal funds by $12.25 million. A month later the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of the Budget endorsed the bill, and both houses of Congress unanimously passed the bill. Eisenhower signed it into law on September 7. The NPS held off on appropriating the additional funds, as it planned to use the already appropriated funds to initiate the railroad relocation.
Zoning, start of railroad relocation, and appropriation (1959–1968)
Saarinen and city functionaries collaborated to zoneZoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
buildings near the arch. In April 1959, real estate developer Lewis Kitchen decided to construct two 40-level edifices across from the arch. In July, after the plan was condemned for its potential obstruction of the arch, Kitchen discussed the issue with officials. A decision was delayed for several months because Saarinen had yet to designate the arch's height, projected between 590 and 630 ft (179.8 and 192 m). By October, Mayor Tucker and Director Wirth resolved to restrict the height of buildings opposite the arch to 275 feet (83.8 m) (about 27 levels), and the city stated that plans for buildings opposite the arch would require its endorsement. Kitchen then decreased the height of his buildings, while Saarinen increased that of the arch.
Railroad relocation was the first stage of the project. On May 6, 1959, after an official conference, the Public Service Commission called for ventilation to accompany the tunnel's construction, which entailed "placing 3,000 feet of dual tracks into a tunnel 105 feet west of the elevated railroad, along with filling, grading, and trestle work." On June 8 in the Old Courthouse, eight bids for the relocation program were reviewed. The MacDonald Construction Company bid the lowest amount—$2,426,115, less than NPS' estimate of the cost—and garnered the contract. At 10:30 a.m. on June 23, 1959, the groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
ceremony occurred with Tucker's spading the first portion of earth. Wirth and Dickmann also delivered speeches.
The NPS acquired the $500,000 in escrow and transferred it to MacDonald to initiate railroad relocation. In August, demolition of the Old Rock House was complete, with workers beginning to excavate the tunnel. In November, they began shaping the tunnel's walls with concrete. Twenty-nine percent of the construction was completed by March and 95% by November. On November 17, trains began to use the new tracks. June 1962 was the projected date of fruition.
On May 16, 1959, the Senate appropriations subcommittee received from St. Louis legislators a request for $2.4911 million, of which it granted only $133,000. Wirth recommended that they reseek the funds in January 1960.
On March 10, 1959, Regional Director Howard Baker received $888,000 as the city's first subsidy for the project. On December 1, 1961, $23,003,150 in total had been authorized, with $19,657,483 already appropriated—$3,345,667 remained not yet appropriated.
Construction
The bidding date, originally December 20, 1961, was postponed to January 22, 1962, to clarify the details of the arch construction. About 50 companies that had requested the construction requirements received bidding invitations. Extending from $11,923,163 to $12,765,078, all four bids exceeded the engineer estimate of $8,067,000. Wirth had a committee led by George HartzogGeorge B. Hartzog, Jr.
George B. Hartzog, Jr. was an American attorney and Director of the National Park Service. Admitted to the bar in South Carolina in 1942, he became an attorney for the General Land Office in the Department of the Interior in 1945, and six months later transferred to the National Park Service.He...
determine the validity of the bids in light of the government's conditions. Following a meeting with the bidders, the committee affirmed the bids' reasonableness, and Wirth awarded the lowest bidder, MacDonald Construction Company, the contract for the construction of the arch and the visitor center. On March 14, 1962, he signed the contract and received from Tucker $2,500,000, the city's subsidy for the phase. MacDonald reduced its bid $500,000 to $11,442,418. The Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company served as the subcontractor for the shell of the arch.
In 1959, ground was broken
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
, and in 1961, the foundation of the structure was laid. Construction of the arch itself began on February 12, 1963, as the first steel triangle on the south leg was eased into place. These steel triangles that narrowed as they spiraled to the top were raised into place by a group of cranes and derrick
Derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
s. The arch was assembled of 142 12 feet (3.7 m)-long prefabricated
Prefabrication
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
stainless steel sections. Once in place, each section had its double-walled skin filled with concrete, prestressed
Prestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete is a method for overcoming concrete's natural weakness in tension. It can be used to produce beams, floors or bridges with a longer span than is practical with ordinary reinforced concrete...
with 252 tension bars
Rebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...
. In order to keep the partially completed legs steady, a scissors truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
was placed between them at 530 feet (161.5 m), later removed as the derricks were taken down. The whole endeavor was expected to be completed by fall 1964, in observance of St. Louis' bicentennial.
Contractor MacDonald Construction Co. arranged a 30 feet (9.1 m) tower for spectators and provided recorded accounts of the undertaking. In 1963, a million people went to observe the progress, and by 1964, local radio stations began to broadcast when large slabs of steel were to be raised into place.
The project manager of MacDonald Construction Co., Stan Wolf, said that a 62-story building was easier to build than the arch: "In a building, everything is straight up, one thing on top of another. In this arch, everything is curved."
Delays and lawsuits
Although an actuarialActuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....
firm predicted thirteen workers would die while building the arch, no worker was killed during the monument's construction. However, construction of the arch was still often delayed by safety checks, funding uncertainties, and legal disputes.
Civil rights activists regarded the construction of the arch as a token of racial discrimination. While African Americans worked on the arch, none were skilled laborers. On July 14, 1964, during the workers' lunchtime, civil rights protesters Percy Green and Richard Daly, both members of Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
, climbed up 125-feet on the north leg of the arch to "expose the fact that federal funds were being used to build a national monument that was racially discriminating against black contractors and skilled black workers." As the pair disregarded demands to get off, protesters on the ground demanded that at least 10% of the skilled jobs belong to African Americans. Four hours later Green and Daly dismounted from the arch, to charges of "trespassing, peace disturbance, and resisting arrest." This incident inter alia spurred the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
to file the first pattern or practice case against AFL–CIO under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on February 4, 1966, but the department later called off the charges.
In 1964, the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company sued MacDonald for $665,317 for tax concerns. In 1965, NPS requested that Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel remove the prominent letters "P-D-M" (its initials) from a creeper derrick used for construction, contending that it was promotional and violated federal law with regards to advertising on national monuments. Although Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel initially refused to pursue what it considered a precarious venture, the company relented after discovering that leaving the initials would cost $225,000 and after that, $42,000 per month, and the NPS dropped its lawsuit.
On October 26, 1965, the International Association of Ironworkers delayed work to ascertain that the arch was safe. After NPS director Kenneth Chapman gave his word that conditions were "perfectly safe," construction resumed on October 27. After the discovery of 16 defects, the tram was also delayed from running. The Bi-State Development Agency
Bi-State Development Agency
The Bi-State Development Agency is an interstate compact formed by Missouri and Illinois in 1949. Since February 2003 the agency has been doing business as Metro. It operates with a budget of $160 million, which is funded by sales taxes from the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, the St...
assessed that it suffered losses of $2,000 for each day the trains were stagnant.
On January 7, 1966, members of AFL–CIO deserted their work on the visitor center, refusing to work with plumbers affiliated with Congress of Industrial Unions (CIU), which represented black plumbers. A representative of AFL–CIO said, "This policy has nothing to do with race. Our experience is that these CIU members have in the past worked for substandard wages." CIU applied to the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
(NLRB) for an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
that required the AFL–CIO laborers to return to work. On February 7, Judge John Keating Regan
John Keating Regan
John Keating Regan was a United States federal judge.Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Regan received an LL.B. from Benton College in 1934. He was in private practice in St. Louis from 1935 to 1939, and was an assistant prosecuting attorney of St. Louis from 1939 to 1942...
ruled that AFL–CIO workers had participated in a secondary boycott. By February 11, AFL–CIO resumed work on the arch, and a AFL–CIO contractor declared that ten African Americans were apprenticed for arch labor. The standstill in work lasted a month. Considering how large Federal projects often "go haywire", Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Newton D. Baker
Newton D. Baker
Newton Diehl Baker, Jr. was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.-Early years:...
said, "This memorial will be like a cathedral; built slowly but surely."
Topping out and dedication
President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes
Alfonso J. Cervantes
Alfonso Juan Cervantes was the thirty-ninth Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, from 1965 to 1973.- Personal life and early political career :...
decided on a date for the topping out ceremony, but the arch was not been completed by then. The ceremony date was reset to October 17, 1965, and workers strained to meet the deadline, taking double shifts, but by October 17, the arch was still not complete. The chairman of the ceremony anticipated the ceremony to be held on October 30, a Saturday, to allow 1,500 schoolchildren, whose signatures were to be placed in a time capsule, to attend. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel set the ceremony date to October 28.
The time capsule, containing the signatures of 762,000 students and others, was welded into the keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
before the final piece was set in place. On October 28, the arch was topped out
Topping out
In building construction, topping out is a ceremony held when the last beam is placed at the top of a building. The term may also refer to the overall completion of the building's structure, or an intermediate point, such as when the roof is dried in...
as then Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
observed from a helicopter. A Catholic priest and a rabbi prayed over the keystone, a 10 short tons (9.1 t), 8 feet (2.4 m)-long triangular section. It was slated to be inserted at 10:00 a.m. local time but was done 30 minutes early because thermal expansion
Thermal expansion
Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in volume in response to a change in temperature.When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving more and thus usually maintain a greater average separation. Materials which contract with increasing temperature are rare; this effect is...
had constricted the 8.5-foot gap at the top by 5 inches (12.7 cm). To mitigate this, workers used fire hoses to spray water on the surface of the south leg to cool it down and make it contract. The keystone was inserted in 13 minutes, only 6 inches (15.2 cm) remained. For the next section, a hydraulic jack had to pry apart the legs six feet. The last section was left only 2.5 foot (0.762 m). By 12:00 p.m., the keystone was secured. Some filmmakers, in hope that the two legs would not meet, had chronicled every phase of construction.
The Gateway Arch was expected to open to the public by 1964, but in 1967 the public relations agency stopped forecasting the opening date. The arch's visitor center opened on June 10, 1967 and the tram began operating on July 24.
The arch was dedicated by Humphrey on May 25, 1968. He declared that the arch was "a soaring curve in the sky that links the rich heritage of yesterday with the richer future of tomorrow" and brings a "new purpose" and a "new sense of urgency to wipe out every slum." "Whatever is shoddy, whatever is ugly, whatever is waste, whatever is false, will be measured and condemned" in comparison to the Gateway Arch. About 250,000 people were expected to attend, but rain canceled the outdoor activities. The ceremony had to be transferred into an auditorium, which later became a museum.
When Stuart Udall, then Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
, discussed the story of the arch, an African American person rose and hollered, "[Y]ou're all racists ... we want jobs, not arches." Behind him, a man wearing a veteran's hat jostled him, and Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
personnel removed him from the room. Udall resumed his speech, unperturbed. After the dedication, Humphrey crouched beneath an exit as he waited for the rain to subside so he could walk to his vehicle. Reporters quipped with him and solicited autographs as the rain surged over a clogged seepage grill. Seeing this, Humphrey smiled, "This is ridiculous."
Economic impact
The project did not provide 5,000 jobs as expected—as of June 1964, workers numbered fewer than 100. The project did, however, incite other riverfront restoration efforts, totaling $150 million. Building projects included a 55,000-seat sports stadium, a 400-unit motel, a 24-story hotel, four parking garages, and an apartment complex. The idea of a Disneyland amusement park that included "synthetic riverboat attractions" was considered but later deserted. The developers hoped to use the arch as a commercial catalyst, attracting visitors who would use their services.Physical characteristics
Both the width and height of the arch are 630 feet (192 m). The arch is the tallest memorial in the United States and the tallest stainless steel monument in the world.The cross-sections of the arch's legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from 54 feet (16.5 m) per side at the bases to 17 feet (5.2 m) per side at the top. Each wall consists of a stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
skin covering a sandwich of two carbon-steel walls with reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
in the middle from ground level to 300 feet (91.4 m), with carbon steel to the peak. The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top.
In January 1970, amid frigid temperatures, the arch shrank 3 inches (7.6 cm). Jefferson National Expansion Memorial superintendent Harry Pfanz said the contraction was normal in cold weather and that safety was not at risk.
The structural load
Structural load
Structural loads or actions are forces, deformations or accelerations applied to a structure or its components.Loads cause stresses, deformations and displacements in structures. Assessment of their effects is carried out by the methods of structural analysis...
is supported by a stressed-skin
Stressed skin
In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a type of rigid construction, intermediate between monocoque and a rigid frame with a non-loaded covering:...
design. Each leg is embedded in 25980 short tons (23,568.7 MT) of concrete 44 feet (13.4 m) thick and 60 feet (18.3 m) deep. Twenty feet of the foundation is in bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
. The arch is resistant to earthquakes and is designed to sway up to 9 inches (22.9 cm) in either direction while withstanding winds up to 150 miles per hour (241.4 km/h). The structure weighs 42878 short tons (38,898.3 MT), of which concrete comprises 25980 ST (23,568.7 MT); structural steel interior, 2157 ST (1,956.8 MT); and the stainless steel panels that cover the exterior of the arch, 886 ST (803.8 MT). This amount of stainless steel is the most used in any one project in history. The base of each leg at ground level had to have an engineering tolerance of 1/64 in or the two legs would not meet at the top.
Mathematical elements
The geometric form of the structure was set by mathematical equations provided to Saarinen by Hannskarl BandelHannskarl Bandel
Hannskarl Bandel , was a German American structural engineer.-Early life:...
. Bruce Detmers and other architects expressed the geometric form in blueprints with this equation:
,with the constants
where fc = 625.0925 ft (191 m) is the maximum height of centroid, Qb = 1262.6651 sq ft (117 m²) is the maximum cross sectional area of arch at base, Qt= 125.1406 sq ft (12 m²) is the minimum cross sectional area of arch at top, and L = 299.2239 ft (91 m) is the half width of centroid at the base.
This hyperbolic cosine function
Hyperbolic function
In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogs of the ordinary trigonometric, or circular, functions. The basic hyperbolic functions are the hyperbolic sine "sinh" , and the hyperbolic cosine "cosh" , from which are derived the hyperbolic tangent "tanh" and so on.Just as the points form a...
describes the shape of a catenary
Catenary
In physics and geometry, the catenary is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola...
. A chain that supports only its own weight forms a catenary; in this configuration, the chain is strictly in tension. An inverted catenary arch that supports only its own weight is strictly in compression, with no shear. The catenary arch is the stablest of all other arches since "the thrust passes down through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, whereas in other arches, the pressure tends to force the legs apart." The Gateway Arch itself is not a common catenary, but a more general curve of the form y=Acosh(Bx). This makes it an inverted weighted catenary—the arch is thicker at its two bases than at its vertex. Saarinen chose a weighted catenary over a normal catenary curve because it looked less pointed and less steep. In 1959, he caused some confusion about the actual shape of the arch when he wrote, "This arch is not a true parabola
Parabola
In mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
, as is often stated. Instead it is a catenary curve—the curve of a hanging chain—a curve in which the forces of thrust are continuously kept within the center of the legs of the arch." William V. Thayer, a professor of mathematics at St. Louis Community College
St. Louis Community College
St. Louis Community College is the Missouri two-year college supported by the Junior College District of St. Louis City – St. Louis County. The three original campuses were built simultaneously in 1964: Florissant Valley , Forest Park , and Meramec . A fourth campus, Wildwood opened in August 2007...
, later wrote to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
calling attention to the fact that the structure was a weighted catenary.
Lighting
The first proposal to illuminate the arch at night first was announced on May 18, 1966, but the plan never came to fruition. In July 1998, funding for an arch lighting system was approved by St. Louis' Gateway Foundation, which agreed to take responsibility for the cost of the equipment, its installation, and its upkeep. In January 1999, MSNBCMSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
arranged a temporary lighting system for the arch so the monument could be used as the background for a visit by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. Since November 2001, the arch has been bathed in white light between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. via a system of floodlights. Designed by Randy Burkett, it comprises 44 lighting fixtures situated in four pits just below ground level.
On October 5, 2004, the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, at the pressing of Senators Jim Talent
Jim Talent
James Matthes "Jim" Talent is an American politician and former senator from Missouri. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. He identifies with the conservative wing of the Republican party, being particularly outspoken on judicial appointments,...
and Kit Bond
Kit Bond
Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond is a former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett Woods by a margin of 53%-47%. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004...
, approved a bill permitting the illumination in pink of the arch in honor of breast cancer awareness month
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure...
. Both Estee Lauder
Estée Lauder Companies
Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...
and May Department Store Co. had championed the cause. One employee said that the arch would be a "beacon ... for the importance of prevention and finding a cure." While the National Park Service took issue with the plan due to the precedent it would set for prospective uses of the arch, it yielded due to a realization that it and Congress were "on the same team" and because the illumination was legally obligatory; on October 25, the plan was carried out. The previous time the arch was illuminated was on September 12, 1995, under the management of local companies Fleishman-Hillard
Fleishman-Hillard
Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the world's largest public relations agencies, with a global network of offices as well as offices in 22 cities in the United States. It is a part of Omnicom Group Inc....
and Technical Productions. A rainbow spectrum was shone on the arch to publicize the debut of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
' Wizard of Oz on Ice at the Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center is a 19,150 seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1994. It is the home of the St...
(then named the "Kiel Center").
Public access
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
became the one-millionth person to reach the observation area; the ten-millionth person ascended to the top on August 24, 1979. Currently, the Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with over four million visitors annually, out of which around one million travel to the top. The arch was listed as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
on June 2, 1987, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
On December 8, 2009, sponsored by nonprofit CityArchRiver2015, the international design competition "Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015" commenced. It aimed to "design a plan to improve the riverfront park landscape, ease access for pedestrians across Memorial Drive and expand onto the East St. Louis riverfront," as well as to lure visitors. The contest consisted of three stages—portfolio assessment (narrowed down to 8–10 teams), team interviews (narrowed down to 4–5 teams), and review of design proposals. The competition received 49 applicants, which were narrowed down to five in the first two stages. On August 17, 2010, the designs of the five finalists were revealed to the public and exhibited at the theater below the arch. On August 26, the finalists made their cases to an eight-member jury, and on September 21, the winner was revealed—Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The company's plans include a gondola lift
Gondola lift
A gondola lift is a type of aerial lift, normally called a cable car, which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal,...
across the Mississippi River, using more land to the east of the river, and sealing Memorial Drive
Memorial Drive (St. Louis)
Memorial Drive runs north-south in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It is between the city's central business district and the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and Gateway Arch...
. The NPS' initial estimate of the cost ($305 million) was raised to $578 million. The execution of the design is set to be completed by October 28, 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the arch's topping out.
Visitor center
The underground visitor center for the arch was designed as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66Mission 66
Mission 66 was a US National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service....
program. The 70000 ft2 center is located directly below the arch, between its legs. Although construction on the visitor center began at the same time as construction for the arch itself, it did not conclude until 1976 because of insufficient funding; however, the center opened with several exhibits on June 10, 1967. Access to the visitor center is provided through ramps adjacent to each leg of the arch.
The center houses offices, mechanical room
Mechanical room
A mechanical room or a boiler room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment. Unless a building is served by a centralized heating plant, the size of the mechanical room is usually proportional to the size of the building...
s, and waiting areas for the arch trams, as well as its main attractions: the Museum of Westward Expansion and two theaters displaying films about the arch. The older theater opened in May 1972; the newer theater, called the Odyssey Theatre, was constructed in the 1990s and features a four-story-tall screen. Its construction required the expansion of the underground complex, and workers had to excavate solid rock while keeping the disruption to a minimum so the museum could remain open. The museum houses several hundred exhibits about the United States' westward expansion in the 19th century and opened on August 10, 1977.
Observation area
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and southern Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
with its prominent Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
mounds to the east at Cahokia Mounds, as well as the city of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...
to the west beyond the city. The observation deck, 65 feet (19.8 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, has a capacity of about 160 passengers—the capacity of four trams. On a clear day, one can see up to 30 miles (48.3 km) from atop the arch.
Modes of ascension
Bi-State Development Agency
The Bi-State Development Agency is an interstate compact formed by Missouri and Illinois in 1949. Since February 2003 the agency has been doing business as Metro. It operates with a budget of $160 million, which is funded by sales taxes from the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, the St...
proposed that it issue revenue bonds to obtain the required funds. The Department of the Interior and Bi-State entered into an agreement where Bi-State would construct and operate the tram. Bi-State would have to raise $1,977,750 for the construction of the tram system. It retired the bonds by setting a $1 riding fee to the top. Two months later, the agency had already received 45 advance reservations for seats on the tram.
Bi-State put in $3.3 million revenue bond
Revenue bond
A revenue bond is a special type of municipal bond distinguished by its guarantee of repayment solely from revenues generated by a specified revenue-generating entity associated with the purpose of the bonds, rather than from a tax...
s and has operated the tram system since. The tram in the north leg entered operation in June 1967, but visitors were forced to endure three-hour long waits until April 21, 1976, when a reservation system was put in place. As of 2007, the trams have traveled 250000 miles (402,335 km), conveying more than 25 million passengers.
Each tram is a chain of eight egg-shaped, five-seat compartments with a small window on the doors. As each tram has a capacity of 40 passengers and there are two trams, 80 passengers can be transported at one time, with trams departing from the ground every 10 minutes. The cars swing like Ferris-wheel
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
cars as they ascend and descend the arch. This fashion of movement gave rise to the idea of the tram as "half-Ferris wheel and half-elevator." The trip to the top takes four minutes, and the trip down takes three minutes. At the top, passengers disembark to a 65 feet (19.8 m)-long observation area.
Incidents
On July 8, 1970, a six-year-old boy, his mother, and two of her friends were trapped in a tram in the arch's south leg after the monument closed. According to the boy's mother, the group went up the arch around 9:30 p.m. CST, but when the tram reached the de-boarding area, its doors did not open. The tram then reportedly traveled up to a storage area 50 feet (15.2 m) above the ground, and the power was switched off. One person was able to pry open the tram door and the four managed to reach a security guard for help after being trapped for about 45 minutes.On July 21, 2007, a broken cable forced the south tram to be shut down, leaving only the north tram in service until repairs were completed in March 2008. Around 200 tourists were stuck inside the arch for up to three hours because the severed cable contacted a high-voltage rail, causing a fuse to blow. The north tram was temporarily affected by the power outage as well, but some passengers were able to exit the arch through the emergency stairs and elevator. It was about two hours until all the tram riders safely descended, while those in the observation area at the time of the outage had to wait an additional hour before being able to travel back down. An arch official said the visitors, most of whom stayed calm during the ordeal, were not in any danger; they were later given refunds. The incident occurred while visitors in the arch were watching a fireworks display, and no one was seriously injured in the event. However, two people received medical treatment; one person needed oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and the other was diabetic. Almost immediately after the tram returned to service, however, it was closed again for new repairs after an electrical switch broke. The incident, which occurred on March 14, 2008, was billed as a "bad coincidence."
On the morning of February 9, 2011, a National Park Service worker was injured while performing repairs on the south tram. The 55-year-old was working on the tram's electrical system when he was trapped between it and the arch wall for around 30 seconds, until being saved by other workers. Emergency officials treated the injured NPS employee at the arch's top before taking him to Saint Louis University Hospital
Saint Louis University Hospital
Saint Louis University Hospital is a hospital in St. Louis. Saint Louis University Hospital, also widely known as SLU Hospital, has been owned by the Tenet Healthcare Corporation since the university sold it in 1998. SLU Hospital remains the main teaching hospital for Saint Louis University School...
in serious condition.
On March 24, 2011, around one hundred visitors were stranded in the observation area for 45 minutes after the doors of the south tram refused to close. The tourists were safely brought down the arch in the north tram, which had been closed that week so officials could upgrade it with a new electronic transportation system. The National Park Service later attributed the malfunction to a computer glitch associated with the new system, which had already been implemented with the south tram. No one was hurt in the occurrence, but the arch suffered a slight loss in spring break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
tourism revenue.
Around 2:15 p.m. local time on June 16, 2011, the arch's north tram stalled due to a power outage. The tram became stuck about 200 feet (61 m) from the observation deck, and passengers eventually were told to climb the stairs to the observation area. It took National Park Service workers about one hour to manually pull the tram to the top, and the 40 trapped passengers were able to return down on the south tram, which had previously not been operating that day because there was not an abundance of visitors. An additional 120 people were at the observation deck at the time of the outage and also exited via the south tram. During the outage, visitors were stuck in the tram with neither lighting nor air conditioning. No one was seriously injured in the incident, but one visitor lost consciousness after suffering a panic attack
Panic attack
Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension that are of sudden onset and of relatively brief duration. Panic attacks usually begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 minutes, and subside over the next several hours...
, and a park ranger was taken away with minor injuries. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.
Safety and security
On June 16, 1965, the Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
cautioned that aviators who flew between the legs of the arch would be fined and their licenses revoked; however, at least ten pilots have disobeyed this order, with the first occurrence on June 22, 1966. In 1973, Nikki Caplan was granted an FAA exception to fly a hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
between the arch's legs as part of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race
Great Forest Park Balloon Race
The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is an annual hot air balloon festival held in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. With more than 70 entrants and 130,000 spectators, it is the most well-attended single-day hot air balloon race in the United States.-History:...
. The St. Louis park director accompanied her on the flight as the balloon hit the arch and plummeted 70 feet at one point.
The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
propelled the consideration of a counterterrorism program. Two years later, a little over $1 million was granted to institute such a program. Park officials were trained to note the activity of tourists, and inconspicuous electronic detection devices were installed. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, security efforts were more prominent, security checkpoints moved to the entrance of the visitor center. At the checkpoints, visitors are screened by magnetometers and x-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
equipment, devices which have been in place since 1997.
The arch also became one of several U.S. monuments placed under restricted airspace
Restricted airspace
Restricted airspace is an area of airspace in which the local controlling authorities have determined that air traffic must be restricted for safety or security concerns...
during 2002 Fourth of July celebrations. In 2003, 10-feet long, 32-inch high, 4100-lb movable Jersey barrier
Jersey barrier
A Jersey barrier or Jersey wall is a modular concrete barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to both minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing crossover in the case of head-on accidents....
s were installed to impede terrorist attacks on the arch. Later that year, it was announced that these walls were to be replaced by concrete posts encased in metal to be more harmonious with the steel color of the arch. The movable bollard
Bollard
A bollard is a short vertical post. Originally it meant a post used on a ship or a quay, principally for mooring. The word now also describes a variety of structures to control or direct road traffic, such as posts arranged in a line to obstruct the passage of motor vehicles...
s can be manipulated from the park's dispatch center, which has also been upgraded.
In 2006, arch officials hired a "physical security specialist," replacing a law enforcement officer. The responsibilities of the specialist include risk assessment
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is a step in a risk management procedure. Risk assessment is the determination of quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a concrete situation and a recognized threat...
, testing the park's security system, increasing security awareness of other employees, and working with other government agencies to improve the arch's security procedures.
Stunts and accidents
In 1976, U.S. Army paratrooperParatrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s were permitted to fly through the legs of the arch as part of Fourth of July festivities. However, the arch has been a target of various other stunt performer
Stunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
s, and while such feats are generally forbidden, several people have parachuted to or from the arch regardless. In June 1980, the National Park Service declined a request by television producers to have a performer jump from the arch; a similar appeal by stuntman Dan Koko was also turned away in February 1986. Koko, who was a stunt double
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
Superman, wanted to perform the leap during Fourth of July celebrations.
1980 accident
On November 22, 1980, at about 8:45 a.m. CST, 33-year-old Kenneth Swyers of Overland, Missouri
Overland, Missouri
Overland is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,062 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Overland is located at ....
, parachuted on to the top of the arch. (His plan was to release his main parachute and then jump off the arch using his reserve parachute, a "BASE" jump). Unfortunately, after landing the wind blew him to the side, and he slid down the north leg to his death. The accident was witnessed by several people, including Swyers' wife, also a parachutist. She said her husband "was not a hot dog, daredevil skydiver" and that he had prepared for the jump two weeks in advance. Swyers, who had made over 1,600 jumps before the incident, was reported by one witness to have "landed very well" on the top of the arch, but "had no footing." Swyers was reportedly blown to the top of the arch by the wind and was unable to save himself when his reserve parachute failed to deploy. The Federal Aviation Administration said the jump was unauthorized, and investigated the pilot involved in the incident.
On December 27, 1980, St. Louis television station KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
reported receiving calls from supposed witnesses of another stunt landing. The alleged parachutist, who claimed to be a retired professional stuntman, was said to be wearing a Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
costume when he jumped off an airplane around 8:00 a.m. CST, parachuted onto the arch, grasped the monument's beacon, and used the same chute to glide down unharmed. KTVI said it was told the feat was done as an act of homage to Swyers, and "apparently was a combination of a dare, a drunk and a tribute." On the day after the alleged incident, authorities labeled the jump a hoax. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said no calls were received about the jump until after it was detailed on the news, and the Federal Aviation Administration said the two calls it had received were very similar. One caller also left an out-of-service phone number, while the other never followed up with investigators. Arch officials said they did not witness any such jump, and photos provided by the alleged parachutist were unclear.
1992 stunt
On September 14, 1992, 25-year-old John C. Vincent climbed to the top of the Gateway Arch using suction cup
Suction cup
A suction cup, also sometimes known as a sucker is an object that uses negative fluid pressure of air or water to adhere to nonporous surfaces. They exist both as artificially created devices, and as anatomical traits of some animals such as octopi and squid.The working face of the suction cup has...
s and proceeded to parachute back to the ground. He was later charged with two misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
s: climbing a national monument and parachuting in a national park. Federal prosecutor
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
Stephen Higgins called the act a "great stunt" but said it was "something the Park Service doesn't take lightly." Vincent, a construction worker and diver from Harvey
Harvey, Louisiana
Harvey is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Harvey is on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, said he did it "just for the excitement, just for the thrill," and had previously parachuted off the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in May 1991. He said that scaling the arch "wasn't that hard" and had considered a jump off the monument for a few months. In an interview, Vincent said he visited the arch's observation area a month before the stunt, to see if he could use a maintenance hatch for accessing monument's peak. Due to the heavy security, he instead decided to climb up the arch's exterior using suction cups, which he had used before to scale shorter buildings. Dressed in black, Vincent began crawling up the arch around 3:30 a.m. CST on September 14 and arrived undetected at the top around 5:45 a.m., taking an additional 75 minutes to rest and take photos before finally jumping. During this time, he was seen by two traffic reporters inside the One Metropolitan Square
One Metropolitan Square
One Metropolitan Square, also known as Met Square, or Met 1, is a skyscraper completed in 1989 in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. At , it is the tallest building in the city, and second tallest building in Missouri behind One Kansas City Place in Kansas City...
skyscraper.
Vincent was also spotted mid-air by Deryl Stone, a Chief Ranger for the National Park Service. Stone reported seeing Vincent grab his parachute after landing and run to a nearby car, which quickly drove away. However, authorities were able to detain two men on the ground who had been videotaping the jump. Stone said 37-year-old Ronald Carroll and 27-year-old Robert Weinzetl, both St. Louis residents, were found with a wireless communication headset and a video camera, as well as a still camera with a telephoto lens
Telephoto lens
In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a telephoto group that extends the light path to create a long-focus...
. The two were also charged with two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct and commercial photography in a national park. Vincent later turned himself in and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. However, he eventually accepted a guilty plea deal in which he testified against Carroll and Weinzetl, revealing that the two consented to recording the jump during a meeting of all three on the day before his stunt occurred. Federal magistrate judge
United States magistrate judge
In the United States federal courts, magistrate judges are appointed to assist United States district court judges in the performance of their duties...
David D. Noce ruled on January 28, 1993 that Carroll had been involved in a conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
and was guilty of both misdemeanor charges; the charges against Weinzetl had been dropped by federal attorneys. In his decision, Noce stated, "There are places in our country where the sufficiently skilled can savor the exhilaration and personal satisfaction of accomplishing courageous and intrepid acts, of reaching dreamed-of heights and for coursing dangerous adventures," but added that other places are designed for "the exhilaration of mere observation and for the appreciation of the imaginings and the works of others. The St. Louis Arch and the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial are in the latter category."
Symbolism and culture
Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, the arch typifies "the pioneer spirit of the men and women who won the West, and those of a latter day to strive on other frontiers." The arch has become the iconic image of St. Louis, appearing in many parts of city culture. In 1968, three years after the monument's opening, the St. Louis phone directory contained 65 corporations with "Gateway" in their title and 17 with "Arch." Arches also appeared over gas stations and drive-in restaurants.The arch has also appeared as a symbol of Missouri state. On November 22, 2002, at the Missouri State Capitol
Missouri State Capitol
The Missouri State Capitol is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Housing the Missouri General Assembly, it is located in the state capital of Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue. The domed building was designed by the New York architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout and completed in 1917...
, Lori Hauser Holden, wife of then Governor Bob Holden
Bob Holden
Robert Lee "Bob" Holden, Jr. is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 53rd Governor of Missouri.-Early life:...
uncovered the winning design for a Missouri coin design competition as part of the Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program. Designed by watercolorist Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson (artist)
Watercolorist Paul Jackson, AWS, was raised in Starkville, Mississippi and resides in Columbia, Missouri. Jackson was inducted as a signature member into the American Watercolor Society at the age of 30, and he is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society...
, the coin portrays "three members of the Lewis and Clark expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
paddling a boat on the Missouri River upon returning to St. Louis" with the arch as the backdrop. Holden said that the arch was "a symbol for the entire state .... Four million visitors each year see the Arch. [The coin] will help make it even more loved worldwide."
A special license plate designed by Arnold Worldwide
Arnold Worldwide
Arnold Worldwide is an advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency has 15 offices in 12 countries, including Amsterdam, Boston, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, New York, Prague, São Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto and Washington DC...
featured the arch, labeled with "." Profits earned from selling the plates would fund the museum and other educational components of the arch.
Louchheim wrote that although the arch "has a simplicity which should guarantee timeliness", it is entirely modern as well because of the innovative design and its scientific considerations. In The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
, architectural critic David Dillon opined that the arch exists not as a functional edifice but as a symbol of "boundless American optimism". He articulates the arch's multiple "moods"—"reflective in sunlight, soft and pewterish in mist; crisp as a line drawing one moment, chimerical the next"—as a way the arch has "paid for itself many times over in wonder".
In February 1997, Dutch composer Peter Schat
Peter Schat
Peter Schat was a Dutch composer.Schat studied composition with Kees van Baaren at the conservatories in Utrecht and The Hague from 1952 until 1958, and then went on to study in London with Mátyás Seiber in 1959 and with Pierre Boulez in Basle in 1960–61...
was struck by the skill of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the SLSO is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States as it is preceded by the New York Philharmonic.-History:The St...
as they performed one of his compositions under the conduct of Hans Vonk. He commissioned the orchestra, with plans "to create a musical equivalent to Eero Saarinen's monumental Gateway Arch." By October of the same year, he finished the composition, which was called Arch Music for St. Louis, Op. 44. It premiered on January 8, 1999, at the Powell Symphony Hall
Powell Symphony Hall
Powell Symphony Hall is the home of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. It was named after Walter S. Powell, a local St. Louis businessman, whose widow donated $1 million towards the purchase and use of this hall by the symphony...
. Since Schat did not ascend the arch due to his fear of heights, he used his creativity to depict in music someone riding a tram to the top of the arch:
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...
's "The Stoic" also references the Gateway Arch. The poem, "an elegy for a miscarried foetus," describes Muldoon's ordeal standing under the Gateway Arch after his wife telephoned and informed him that the baby they were expecting had been miscarried. During the writing process, Muldoon said, "I've this notion ... that there might be some connection between standing underneath [the Gateway Arch] ... and feeling something of the despair that figures in Ozymandias
Ozymandias
"Ozymandias" is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, published in 1818 in the January 11 issue of The Examiner in London. It is frequently anthologised and is probably Shelley's most famous short poem...
, and the bleakness and just the terrible isolation of this moment.... I see the Gateway Arch as being a modem version of the two vast and trunkless legs of stone." A portion of the published poem read: "Rather than shudder like a bow of yew or the matchless Osage orange / at the thought of our child already lost from view / before it had quite come into range, / I steadied myself under the Gateway Arch." Iain Twiddy of Oxford Journals wrote that the arch "echoes the 'iced-over canal' of the poem's opening, or the birth canal" and that the mirror-image rhyme scheme of the poem, abab cdcd efgf fgfe dcdc baba, is an allusion to the Gateway Arch or the "cervical opening of the poem, as a monument to the dead."
Some have questioned whether St. Louis really was—as Saarinen said—the "Gateway to the West"; Kansas City
Kansas City
Kansas City most commonly refers to:* Kansas City metropolitan area, a 15-county metropolitan area in the US states of Kansas and Missouri, which includes;** Kansas City, Missouri, the anchor city** Kansas City, Kansas, a western suburb...
-born "deadline poet" Calvin Trillin
Calvin Trillin
Calvin Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist.-Biography:Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and was a member of Scroll and Key before graduating...
has commented on this when comparing himself with poet T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, a St. Louis native:
"I know you're thinking that there are considerable differences between T.S. Eliot and me. Yes, it is true that he was from St. Louis, which started calling itself the Gateway to the West after Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch was erected, and I'm from Kansas City, where people think of St. Louis not as the Gateway to the West but as the Exit from the East."
Awards and recognitions
In 1966, the arch was given a Special Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Steel ConstructionAmerican Institute of Steel Construction
The American Institute of Steel Construction, often abbreviated AISC, is a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association for the use of structural steel in the construction industry of the United States. It is headquartered in Chicago, IL. Their mission is to make structural steel the...
for being "an outstanding achievement in technology and aesthetics." On February 9, 1967, the arch received the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of 1967 from the American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. It is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. ASCE's vision is to have engineers positioned as global leaders who strive toward...
. The arch was once among Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is put out by American Express Publishing Corporation, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Express Company led by...
s unofficial rankings for the most-visited attraction in the world, after Lenin's Tomb
Lenin's Mausoleum
Lenin's Mausoleum also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in Red Square in the center of Moscow, is the mausoleum that serves as the current resting place of Vladimir Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924...
, Disney World
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
, Disneyland, and the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
. On February 22, 1990, the arch received the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
' (AIA) Twenty-Five Year Award for its "enduring significance that has withstood the test of time." It was declared "a symbolic bridge between East and West, past and future, engineering and art" that "embodies the boundless optimism of a growing nation." In 2007, the arch was ranked fourteenth on the AIA's "America's Favorite Architecture" list.
Maintenance
The arch was first targeted by graffiti artists on March 5, 1969, but the vandalism was easily removed. In 2010, signs of corrosion were reported at the upper regions of the stainless steel surface. Carbon steel in the north leg has been rusting, possibly a result of water accumulation, a side effect of leaky weldsWelding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
in an environment that often causes rain inside. Maintenance workers currently use mops and a temporary setup of water containers to mitigate the problem. According to NPS documents, the corrosion and rust pose no safety issues.
In 2006, architectural specialists studied the corrosion on the arch and suggested additional examination. A 2010 Historic Structure Report was conducted and found that the corrosion required a more comprehensive study. In September 2010, the NPS granted Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. is an American corporation of architects, engineers, and materials scientists specializing in the investigation, analysis, testing, and design of repairs for historic and contemporary buildings and structures...
a contract for a structural study that would "gather data about the condition of the Arch to enable experts to develop and implement the right long-term solutions."
See also
- Eero SaarinenEero SaarinenEero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
- Architecture of St. LouisArchitecture of St. LouisThe architecture of St. Louis exhibits a variety of commercial, residential, and monumental architecture. St. Louis is known for the Gateway Arch, the tallest monument constructed in the USA. Architectural influences reflected in the area include French Colonial, German, early American, and modern...
- List of tallest buildings in St. Louis
- Jefferson National Expansion MemorialJefferson National Expansion MemorialThe Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Missouri
- National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis, MissouriNational Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis, MissouriNational Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis are in both the independent city of St. Louis, Missouri and in the separate St. Louis County:* National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis , Missouri...
External links
- The City + The Arch + The River
- 360 Degree Panorama Of The Gateway Arch Taken From Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park - East St. Louis, IL