50 Fun Facts About Gateway Arch National Park

The park sits on the bank of which river?

It occupies the St. Louis riverfront near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

How does the park rank in size among US national parks?

At about 193 acres it is less than 2 percent the size of the next-smallest, Hot Springs.

How tall is the Gateway Arch?

It is exactly as wide at its base as it is tall, and it is the tallest monument in the United States.

Which Finnish-American architect designed the arch?

He also designed the TWA Flight Center, Dulles airport's main terminal and the Tulip chair, and died of a brain tumour in 1961 before the arch was built.

What embarrassing mix-up happened when the 1947 competition result was announced?

The notice was addressed to 'E. Saarinen'; the family toasted Eliel, and two hours later an official rang to say the winner was his son Eero, so they opened a second bottle.

What was the site called from 1935 until 2018?

It was created by secretarial order on 21 December 1935 to honour the Louisiana Purchase, westward expansion, the first civil government west of the river and the Dred Scott case.

Which president signed the act renaming the memorial Gateway Arch National Park on 22 February 2018?

Senator Roy Blunt's bill drew criticism that a historic monument diluted the meaning of 'national park', which usually implies natural landscapes.

Which St. Louis civic booster first pitched the riverfront memorial idea in 1933?

He chaired the memorial association for 15 years and personally donated $40,000 toward the $225,000 design competition.

What later emerged about the 1935 bond election that approved buying the riverfront?

The 40-block clearance was bitterly opposed by the Post-Dispatch; the true number of voters in favour is unknown, and the government paid about 132 percent of assessed value.

Roughly how many downtown blocks were razed to make room for the memorial?

Among the losses were fur trader Manuel Lisa's 1818 'Old Rock House' and Jean Pierre Chouteau's 1819 home; a single church was spared.

Which building inside the memorial area was the only one not demolished?

It stands on the site of the city's first church, opposite founder Auguste Chouteau's home; the founders were reburied at Bellefontaine in 1849.

How tall was the arch in Saarinen's original winning design?

Over 15 years the plans moved it to higher ground and added 40 feet in height and width.

The arch is often described as an inverted catenary. Why is that not quite accurate?

The shape also sends more of the weight downward rather than outward at the base; engineer Hannskarl Bandel helped work it out.

On what date was the arch completed with the placing of its keystone?

Vice President Hubert Humphrey watched from a helicopter; the public could not go inside until the visitor center opened in June 1967.

What did workers have to do to fit the final keystone section?

Thermal expansion had closed the 8.5-foot gap by five inches; the piece went in 30 minutes early with only six inches to spare, and a jack then pried the legs apart six feet for the next section.

What was welded into the keystone before it was set?

Most of the signatures were schoolchildren's; a priest and a rabbi prayed over the 10-ton, eight-foot triangular section.

How many prefabricated stainless steel sections make up the arch?

Each 12-foot triangle was hoisted by creeper derricks and its double skin filled with concrete; a scissors truss steadied the legs at 530 feet.

How many construction workers died building the arch?

Insurers had predicted 13 deaths on the job; a million people came to watch the work in 1963 alone.

How far is the arch designed to sway in strong wind?

It can take winds up to 150 mph and earthquakes; each leg sits in nearly 26,000 tons of concrete, 60 feet deep.

What record does the arch's exterior hold?

The 0.25-inch grade 304 panels weigh 886 tons out of a total structure of nearly 43,000 tons.

The tram to the top has been described as half elevator and half what?

Its five-seat capsules rotate to stay level as they climb the curved legs; the trip up takes four minutes and the trip down three.

How many people can each tram carry at once?

Eight capsules of five seats each; with two trams, 80 people can ride at a time and the observation deck holds about 160.

How many emergency steps climb each leg of the arch?

There is also a 12-passenger elevator to the 372-foot level; the deck's 16 windows a side look out up to 30 miles.

What was the original fee that paid off the bonds that financed the tram?

The Park Service nearly dropped the tram idea for lack of money in 1962 until the Bi-State Development Agency offered to issue revenue bonds and run it.

On 14 July 1964, civil rights activists Percy Green and Richard Daly did what?

The Congress of Racial Equality members were highlighting the lack of Black contractors and skilled workers on a federally funded job; they came down after four hours and were arrested.

Who officially dedicated the arch on 25 May 1968?

Truman had dedicated the land back in 1950 before the Korean War stalled the project.

What did the FAA warn in June 1965 that at least ten pilots have since ignored?

The first pilot flew through on 22 June 1966; a US Army skydiving team was legally allowed to fly parachutes through the legs on the Fourth of July 1976.

What happened to Kenneth Swyers on 22 November 1980?

He had planned a BASE jump off the top with his reserve chute; a 1992 climber, John Vincent, did reach the top with suction cups and parachuted down.

The Old Courthouse in the park was the scene of the local trials in which landmark case?

The enslaved Scott sued for his and his wife's freedom in 1846; the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1857, saying they had no standing as citizens.

Which suffragist's trials for trying to vote in 1872 were also heard in the Old Courthouse?

The Supreme Court upheld male-only voting in Minor v. Happersett in 1875, saying the Constitution left voting rules to the states.

The Old Courthouse's dome resembles which other famous dome built at the same time during the Civil War?

The courthouse was once the tallest building in the state and stands on land deeded by city founder Auguste Chouteau on condition it stay a courthouse forever.

The Civil Courts Building west of the Old Courthouse carries a model of what on its roof?

The pyramid-topped tower copies one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; the Chouteau family sued when it was built in the 1920s.

What was Three Flags Day in St. Louis in 1804?

The ceremony completed the Louisiana Purchase and legally cleared Lewis and Clark to head west, which Spain had forbidden.

The 1780 clash fought on the original town site, where the park now stands, was unique in what way?

The site was also the first US capital of Upper Louisiana after the 1803 purchase.

How high did the river reach during the Great Flood of 1993?

The park has 4,200 trees today after the CityArchRiver renovation, up from 1,800; ash trees were removed in 2016 ahead of the emerald ash borer.

The 'Park over the Highway' project completed in 2014 solved what problem?

The landscaped lid over Interstate 70 (now I-44) finally realised Saarinen's plan to connect the courthouse to the arch grounds; the whole $380 million renovation finished in 2018.

Which state quarter, released in 2003, features the arch?

The park's museum below the arch was rebuilt in 2018 and tells the story of westward expansion 'through a St. Louis lens'.

The Eads Bridge just north of the arch grounds, finished in 1874, pioneered the large-scale use of what?

Its foundations went more than 100 feet below water using pneumatic caissons, and its 520-foot centre arch was the longest rigid span in the world; it is the oldest bridge on the river.

What did the ironworkers' union do two days before the topping-out ceremony?

NPS director Kenneth Chapman gave his word conditions were 'perfectly safe'; 16 defects later delayed the tram.

How long did visitors typically queue for the north tram before reservations began in 1976?

The south tram opened in March 1968; by 2007 the trams had carried more than 25 million passengers over 250,000 miles.

How did the arch's architect die in September 1961, four years before it was finished?

Born in Finland in 1910 on his father's birthday, he emigrated at 13 and grew up at Cranbrook, where his father was dean.

Which other property in St. Louis County was placed under the arch superintendent's jurisdiction in 1999?

That year the tram queue areas were also renovated for about $2.2 million.

Roughly how large is Gateway Arch National Park?

That is less than 2 percent of the next-smallest national park, Hot Springs in Arkansas.

Which landscape architect designed the park grounds around the arch?

Kiley was part of Saarinen's 1947 competition team, alongside sculptor Lily Swann Saarinen and painter Alexander Girard.

In which year did the arch open to the public?

Construction had finished in October 1965 and the formal dedication came in May 1968.

The arch stands on the site of the founding of St. Louis in which year?

The city grew from a French fur-trading post on the west bank of the Mississippi.

Which St. Louis mayor convened the December 1933 meeting that endorsed the riverfront memorial?

Civic booster Luther Ely Smith brought him the idea after seeing the George Rogers Clark memorial in Indiana.

How far can visitors see from the observation windows at the top on a clear day?

Sixteen small windows on each side, just 7 by 27 inches, serve a deck that holds about 160 people.

How high does the arch's 12-passenger elevator go?

Beyond that, the only ways up are the trams in each leg or the 1,076-step emergency stairs.

How much did the federal government pay to acquire the riverfront buildings by eminent domain?

After heavy litigation the properties ended up costing about 132 percent of their assessed valuation.