50 free Gateway Arch National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Gateway Arch National Park trivia quiz covers the smallest national park in the United States and the tallest monument in the country: the 630-foot stainless-steel arch on the St. Louis riverfront. Questions cover Eero Saarinen's 1947 design and the champagne mix-up with his father, the engineering (142 steel sections, 18 inches of sway, the fire hoses used to fit the keystone), the tram that is half Ferris wheel and half elevator, and the stunts, protests and pilots that have made headlines beneath it. History ranges from Luther Ely Smith's 1933 idea and a rigged bond election through the demolition of 40 downtown blocks, the 1965 topping-out, the 1968 dedication, the CityArchRiver renovation and the controversial 2018 act that turned the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial into a national park. The Old Courthouse, where Dred Scott sued for his freedom and Virginia Minor sued to vote, gets its due, as do the Louisiana Purchase, Three Flags Day and the Eads Bridge next door. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy this one, try our St. Louis and US National Parks quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The park sits on the bank of which river?
The Mississippi
It occupies the St. Louis riverfront near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Q 02How does the park rank in size among US national parks?
It is the smallest
At about 193 acres it is less than 2 percent the size of the next-smallest, Hot Springs.
Q 03How tall is the Gateway Arch?
630 feet
It is exactly as wide at its base as it is tall, and it is the tallest monument in the United States.
Q 04Which Finnish-American architect designed the arch?
Eero Saarinen
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.
Q 05What embarrassing mix-up happened when the 1947 competition result was announced?
The notice went to the architect's father, who had also entered
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.
Q 06What was the site called from 1935 until 2018?
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
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.
Q 07Which president signed the act renaming the memorial Gateway Arch National Park on 22 February 2018?
Donald Trump
Senator Roy Blunt's bill drew criticism that a historic monument diluted the meaning of 'national park', which usually implies natural landscapes.
Q 08Which St. Louis civic booster first pitched the riverfront memorial idea in 1933?
Luther Ely Smith
He chaired the memorial association for 15 years and personally donated $40,000 toward the $225,000 design competition.
Q 09What later emerged about the 1935 bond election that approved buying the riverfront?
It was rigged
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.
Q 10Roughly how many downtown blocks were razed to make room for the memorial?
40
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.
Q 11Which building inside the memorial area was the only one not demolished?
The Old Cathedral
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.
Q 12How tall was the arch in Saarinen's original winning design?
590 feet
Over 15 years the plans moved it to higher ground and added 40 feet in height and width.
Q 13The arch is often described as an inverted catenary. Why is that not quite accurate?
It was elongated and thinned toward the top
Q 21The tram to the top has been described as half elevator and half what?
Ferris wheel
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.
Q 22How many people can each tram carry at once?
40
Eight capsules of five seats each; with two trams, 80 people can ride at a time and the observation deck holds about 160.
Q 23How many emergency steps climb each leg of the arch?
1,076
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 shape also sends more of the weight downward rather than outward at the base; engineer Hannskarl Bandel helped work it out.
Q 14On what date was the arch completed with the placing of its keystone?
28 October 1965
Vice President Hubert Humphrey watched from a helicopter; the public could not go inside until the visitor center opened in June 1967.
Q 15What did workers have to do to fit the final keystone section?
Spray the south leg with fire hoses to shrink it
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.
Q 16What was welded into the keystone before it was set?
A time capsule with 762,000 signatures
Most of the signatures were schoolchildren's; a priest and a rabbi prayed over the 10-ton, eight-foot triangular section.
Q 17How many prefabricated stainless steel sections make up the arch?
142
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.
Q 18How many construction workers died building the arch?
None
Insurers had predicted 13 deaths on the job; a million people came to watch the work in 1963 alone.
Q 19How far is the arch designed to sway in strong wind?
Up to 18 inches either way
It can take winds up to 150 mph and earthquakes; each leg sits in nearly 26,000 tons of concrete, 60 feet deep.
Q 20What record does the arch's exterior hold?
Most stainless steel used in any single project in history
The 0.25-inch grade 304 panels weigh 886 tons out of a total structure of nearly 43,000 tons.
$1 a ride
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.
Q 25On 14 July 1964, civil rights activists Percy Green and Richard Daly did what?
Climbed 125 feet up a leg to protest hiring bias
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.
Q 26Who officially dedicated the arch on 25 May 1968?
Vice President Humphrey and Secretary Udall
Truman had dedicated the land back in 1950 before the Korean War stalled the project.
Q 27What did the FAA warn in June 1965 that at least ten pilots have since ignored?
Flying through the arch means fines and a revoked licence
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.
Q 28What happened to Kenneth Swyers on 22 November 1980?
He parachuted onto the top of the arch and fell to his death
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.
Q 29The Old Courthouse in the park was the scene of the local trials in which landmark case?
Dred Scott's freedom suit
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.
Q 30Which suffragist's trials for trying to vote in 1872 were also heard in the Old Courthouse?
Virginia Minor
The Supreme Court upheld male-only voting in Minor v. Happersett in 1875, saying the Constitution left voting rules to the states.