The Postcard
A postally unused Mirro-Krome postcard that was published by the H. S. Crocker Co. Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on behalf of the Jefferson National Expansion Historical Association of St. Louis, Missouri.
Although the card was not posted, it bears recipients' names and address:
To: Pete & Barbara,
(Prince Albert),
Newton Street,
Macclesfield,
Cheshire,
England.
Alas, the Prince Albert closed for good in January 2022. Plans are currently (2023) in place for the building to be converted into a 7-bedroomed house of multiple occupation.
The card also bore a message:
"Hello Pete & Barbara,
Weather is 80 degrees -
Phew!
Flight good. Been to top
of this arch - 630 feet -
lovely view.
Also been to Chicago -
smashing.
See you later,
BUGS!"
The St. Louis Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot (192 m) tall monument in St. Louis, Missouri. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch, and Missouri's tallest accessible building.
Some sources consider it the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States and officially dedicated to "the American people", the Arch, commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the West", is a National Historic Landmark in Gateway Arch National Park.
It has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, as well as a popular tourist destination.
The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947. Construction of the Arch began on the 12th. February 1963, and was completed on the 28th. October 1965, at an overall cost of $13 million (equivalent to $86.5 million in 2018).
The monument opened to the public on the 10th. June 1967. It is located at the 1764 site of the founding of St. Louis on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
Inception and Funding (1933–1935)
Around late 1933, civic leader Luther Ely Smith looked at the St. Louis riverfront area and envisioned that building a memorial there would revive the riverfront and stimulate the economy.
He suggested this to mayor Bernard Dickmann, who on the 15th. December 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:
'A suitable and permanent public memorial to the men who made possible the western territorial expansion of the United States, particularly President Jefferson, his aides Livingston and Monroe, the great explorers, Lewis and Clark, and the hardy hunters, trappers, frontiersmen and pioneers who contributed to the territorial expansion and development of these United States, and thereby to bring before the public of this and future generations the history of our development and induce familiarity with the patriotic accomplishments of these great builders of our country.'
Many locals however did not approve of depleting public funds for the cause. Smith's daughter SaLees 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 (about $508 million in 2021 dollars). It called upon the federal government to foot three-quarters of the bill ($22.5 million).
The suggestion to renew the riverfront was not original, as previous projects had been attempted, but lacked popularity. However 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 by 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.
On the 15th. June 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill into law, instituting the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission. The commission comprised 15 members. It first convened on the 19th. December 1934 in St. Louis, where members examined the project and its planned location.
Meanwhile, in December 1934, the JNEMA discussed organizing an architectural competition to determine the design of the monument, and by January 1935, local architect Louis LeBeaume had drawn up competition guidelines.
On the 13th. April 1935, the commission certified JNEMA's project proposals, including memorial perimeters, the "historical significance" of the memorial, the competition, and the $30 million budget.
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 the 7th. August 1935, both Ickes and Hopkins promised $10 million, and said that the National Park Service (NPS) would manage the memorial.
A local bond issue election granting $7.5 million (about $127 million in 2021 dollars) for the memorial's development was held on the 10th. September 1935 and passed.
On the 21st. December 1935 President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order approving the memorial, designating 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.
However some taxpayers began to file suits to block the construction of the monument, which they called a "boondoggle".
Initial Planning (1936–1939)
The NPS acquired the historic buildings within the historic site—through condemnation rather than purchase—and demolished them. By September 1938, condemnation was complete.
The condemnation was subject to many legal disputes which culminated on the 27th. January 1939, when the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that condemnation was valid. A total of $6.2 million was distributed to land owners on the 14th. June.
Demolition commenced on the 9th. October 1939, when Dickmann extracted three bricks from a vacant warehouse.
Led by Paul Peters, adversaries of the memorial delivered to Congress a leaflet titled:
"Public Necessity
or Just Plain Pork".
In March 1936, Representative John Cochran commented during a House meeting that:
"I would not vote for any measure
providing for building the memorial
or allotting funds to it".
Peters and other opponents asked Roosevelt to rescind his Executive Order, and to redirect the money to the American Red Cross. Smith stated that:
"They are opposed to anything that
is ever advanced in behalf of the city."
Because the Mississippi River played an essential role in establishing St. Louis's identity as the gateway to the west, it was felt that a memorial commemorating it should be near the river. Railroad tracks that had been constructed in the 1930's on the levee obstructed views of the riverfront from the memorial site.
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 would conceal the
tracks and re-grading of the site
would elevate it over the tunnel.
These modifications would open
up the views to the river."
Although rejected by NPS architect Charles Peterson, Brown's proposal formed the basis for the ultimate settlement.
By May 1942, demolition was complete. The Old Cathedral and the Old Rock House, because of their historical significance, were the only buildings retained within the historic site.
The Old Rock House was dismantled in 1959 with the intention of reassembling it at a new location, but pieces of the building went missing. Part of the house has been reconstructed in the basement of the Old Courthouse.
Design Competition (1945–1948)
In November 1944, Smith asserted 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."
In January 1945, the JNEMA 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. The passage of a year brought little success, and Smith frantically underwrote the remaining $40,000 in May 1946. In February 1947, the fund stood at $231,199.
On the 30th. May 1947, the contest officially opened. It 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 was required to include:
-- An architectural memorial or memorials to Jefferson.
-- Preservation of the site of Old St. Louis—landscaping, provision of an open-air campfire theater, re-erection or reproduction of a few typical old buildings, and provision
of a Museum interpreting the Westward movement.
-- A living memorial to Jefferson's 'vision of greater opportunities for men of all races and creeds.'
-- Recreational facilities, both sides of the river.
-- Parking facilities, access, relocation of railroads,
and placement of an interstate highway.
On the 1st. September 1947, submissions for the first stage were received by the 7-member 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 to five finalists, and announced the corresponding numbers to the media on the 27th. September 1947.
Eero Saarinen's design (No. 144) was among the finalists, and comments written on it included:
"Relevant, beautiful, perhaps inspired
would be the right word." (Roland Wank) (....Yes, really.)
"An abstract form peculiarly happy
in its symbolism." (Charles Nagel).
Eero Saarinen's father Eliel Saarinen also submitted a design; however 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.
Saarinen changed the height of the Arch from 580 feet to 630 feet (190 m), and wrote that:
"The Arch symbolizes 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."
The deadline for the second stage arrived on the 10th. February 1948, and on the 18th. February, 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, Saarinen was pronounced 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 had developed unaided by his father.
The design drew varied responses. Representative H. R. Gross opposed the allocation of federal funds for the Arch's development. 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 26th. 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. This particular accusation
amounts to the filthiest smear that
has been attempted by a man highly
placed in the architectural profession
in our generation."
The jury refuted the charges, arguing that:
"The arch form is not inherently fascist,
but is 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 had 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.
Final Preparations (1959–1968)
Moving the railroad tracks was the first stage of the project. On the 6th. May 1959, 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.
In August 1959, 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. On the 17th. November 1959, trains began to use the new tracks.
Construction of the Arch
The MacDonald Construction Co. of St. Louis was awarded the contract for the construction of the Arch and the visitor center. 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 the 12th. February 1963, as the first steel triangle on the south leg was eased into place.
These steel triangles, which narrowed as they spiraled to the top, were raised into place by a group of cranes and derricks. The Arch was assembled with 142 twelve foot-long (3.7 m) 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 (160 m), later removed as the derricks were taken down. The whole endeavor was expected to be completed by fall of 1964, in observance of the St. Louis bicentennial.
Contractor MacDonald Construction Co. arranged a 30-foot (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 about to be raised into place.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer Art Witman documented the construction for the newspaper's Sunday supplement Pictures, his longest and most noted assignment. He visited the construction site frequently from 1963 to 1967, recording of every stage of progress.
With assistant Renyold Ferguson, he crawled along the catwalks with the construction workers up to 190m above the ground. He was the only news photographer on permanent assignment at the construction, with complete access. He primarily worked with slide film, but also used the only Panox camera in St. Louis to create panoramic photographs covering 140 degrees. Witman's pictures of the construction are now housed in the State Historical Society of Missouri.
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 actuarial firm predicted that thirteen workers would die while building the Arch, no workers were killed during the monument's construction. However, construction of the Arch was nevertheless 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. On the 14th. July 1964, during the workers' lunchtime, civil rights protesters Percy Green and Richard Daly, both members of Congress of Racial Equality, climbed 125 feet (38 m) up the north leg of the Arch:
"To expose the fact that federal funds
are being used to build a national
monument that was racially
discriminating against black contractors
and skilled black workers."
As the pair disregarded demands to come down, protesters on the ground demanded that at least 10% of the skilled jobs should be given to African Americans. Four hours later, Green and Daly dismounted from the Arch to charges of trespassing, peace disturbance, and resisting arrest.
In 1965, NPS requested that the 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 in place would cost $225,000 and after that, $42,000 per month.
On the 26th. October 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 the 27th. October.
Topping out and Dedication
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes decided on a date for the topping-out ceremony, but the Arch had not been completed by then. The ceremony date was reset to the 17th. October 1965; workers strained to meet the deadline, taking double shifts, but by the 17th. October, the Arch was still not complete.
The chairman of the ceremony then anticipated the ceremony to be held on the 30th. October 1965, a Saturday, to allow 1,500 schoolchildren, whose signatures were to be placed along with others in a time capsule, to attend. Ultimately, PDM set the ceremony date to the 28th. October.
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 the 28th. October 1965, the Arch was topped out as Vice President Hubert Humphrey observed from a helicopter.
A Catholic priest and a rabbi prayed over the keystone, a 10-ton, eight-foot-long (2.4 m) triangular section. It was slated to be inserted at 10:00 a.m. local time, but was in fact done 30 minutes early, because thermal expansion had constricted the 8.5-foot (2.6 m) gap at the top by 5 inches (13 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 with only 6 inches (15 cm) remaining. For the next section, a hydraulic jack had to pry apart the legs six feet (1.8 m). By noon, 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 by 1967 the public relations agency had stopped forecasting the opening date. The Arch's visitor center opened on the 10th. June 1967, and the tram began operating on the 24th. July.
The Arch was dedicated by Hubert Humphrey on the 25th. May 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. It 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 the dedication, but rain canceled the outdoor activities, with the ceremony being transferred to the visitor center. After the dedication, Humphrey crouched beneath an exit as he waited for the rain to subside so that he could walk to his vehicle.
After Completion
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 50,000-seat sports stadium, a 30-story hotel, several office towers, four parking garages, and an apartment complex.
The idea of a Disneyland amusement park that included "synthetic riverboat attractions" was considered, but later abandoned. The developers hoped to use the Arch as a commercial catalyst, attracting visitors who would use their services. One estimate found that since the 1960's, the Arch has incited almost $503 million worth of construction.
Characteristics of the Arch
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 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 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.
The structural load is supported by a stressed-skin design. Each leg is embedded in 25,980 tons of concrete 44 feet (13 m) thick and 60 feet (18 m) deep.
Twenty feet (6.1 m) of the foundation is in bedrock. The Arch is resistant to earthquakes, and is designed to sway up to 18 inches (46 cm) in either direction, while withstanding winds of up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h).
The structure weighs 42,878 tons, of which concrete composes 25,980 tons; structural steel interior, 2,157 tons; and the 6.3mm thick grade 304 stainless steel panels that cover the exterior of the Arch, 886 tons.
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 inch (0.40 mm), or the two legs would not meet at the top.
Mathematics of the Arch
The Arch is a weighted catenary - its legs are wider than its upper section. A hyperbolic cosine function describes the shape of a catenary. The catenary arch is the stablest of all arches, since the thrust passes through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, instead of forcing the legs apart.
The Gateway Arch however is not a common catenary, but an inverted weighted catenary. 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."
Lighting the Arch
The first proposal to illuminate the Arch at night was announced on the 18th. May 1966, but the plan never came to fruition. However in July 1998, funding for an Arch lighting system was approved by St. Louis's Gateway Foundation, which agreed to take responsibility for the cost of the equipment, its installation, and its upkeep.
In January 1999, MSNBC 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 the 5th. October 2004, the U.S. Senate approved a bill permitting the illumination in pink of the Arch in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Both Estée 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 the 25th. October 2004, the plan was carried out.
The previous time the Arch was illuminated for promotional purposes was on the 12th. September 1995, under the management of local companies Fleishman-Hillard and Technical Productions, when 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 Kiel Center.
Public Access to the Arch
In April 1965, three million tourists were expected to visit the Arch annually after completion; 619,763 tourists visited the top of the Arch in its first year open. On the 15th. January 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 the 24th. August 1979.
In 1974, the Arch was ranked fourth on a list of "most-visited man-made attractions." The Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, with over four million visitors annually, of which around one million travel to the top.
The Arch was listed as a National Historic Landmark on the 2nd. June 1987, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Visitor Center
The underground visitor center for the Arch was designed as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program. The 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) center is located directly below the Arch, between its legs.
Although construction of the visitor center began at the same time as construction of the Arch itself, it did not conclude until 1976 because of insufficient funding; however, the center opened with several exhibits on the 10th. June 1967. Access to the visitor center is provided through ramps adjacent to each leg of the Arch.
The center houses offices, mechanical rooms, 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 1990's 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 that the museum could remain open.
The museum houses several hundred exhibits relating to the United States' westward expansion in the 19th. century, and opened on the 10th. August 1977.
The visitor center and museum underwent a $176 million expansion and renovation that was completed in July 2018. The renovation included a 46,000-square-foot underground addition featuring interactive story galleries, video walls, a fountain and a café.
The Observation Area
Near the top of the Arch, passengers exit the tram compartment and climb a slight gradient to enter the observation area. This arched deck, which is over 65 feet (20 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, can hold up to about 160 people, equivalent to the number of people from four trams.
Sixteen windows per side, each measuring 7 by 27 inches (180 mm × 690 mm), offer views up to 30 miles (48 km) to the east across the Mississippi River and southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds at Cahokia Mounds, and to the west over the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County beyond.
Modes of Ascent
There are three modes of transportation up the Arch: two sets of 1,076-step emergency stairs (one per leg), a 12-passenger elevator to the 372-foot (113 m) height, and a tram in each leg.
Each tram is a chain of eight cylindrical, 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 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.
The tram in the north leg entered operation in June 1967, but visitors were forced to endure three-hour-long waits until the 21st. April 1976, when a reservation system was put in place.
The south tram was completed in March 1968. Commemorative pins were awarded to the first 100,000 passengers.
As of 2007, the trams have traveled 250,000 miles (400,000 km), conveying more than 25 million passengers.
Incidents Associated With the Arch
-- July 1970
On the 8th. July 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. CDT, but when the tram reached the de-boarding area, its doors did not open.
The tram then traveled up to a storage area 50 feet (15 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.
-- July 2007
On the 21st. July 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 about 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, and 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.
-- March 2008
Almost immediately after the tram returned to service in 2008, however, it was closed again for new repairs after an electrical switch broke. The incident, which occurred on the 14th. March, was billed as a "bad coincidence."
-- February 2011
On the morning of the 9th. February 2011, a National Park Service worker was injured while performing repairs to 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 a serious condition.
-- March 2011
On the 24th. March 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 computer 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.
-- June 2011
Around 2:15 p.m. local time on the 16th. June 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 they 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.
Stunts and Accidents Associated With the Arch
-- June 1966
On the 16th. June 1965, the Federal Aviation Administration cautioned that aviators who flew through the Arch would be fined, and their licenses revoked. At least ten pilots have disobeyed this order, beginning on the 22nd. June 1966.
-- December 1973
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. During the flight, on which the St. Louis park director was a passenger, the balloon hit the Arch and plummeted 70 feet before recovering.
-- July 1976
In 1976, a U.S. Army exhibition skydiving team was permitted to fly through the Arch as part of Fourth of July festivities, and since then, numerous skydiving exhibition teams have legally jumped onto the Arch grounds, after having flown their parachutes through the legs of the Arch.
-- June 1980
The Arch has been a target of various stunt performers, 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.
-- November 1980
On the 22nd. November 1980, at about 8:45 a.m. CST, 33-year-old Kenneth Swyers of Overland, Missouri, parachuted onto the top of the Arch. His plan was to release his main parachute and then jump off the Arch using his reserve parachute to perform 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 that:
"My husband was not a hot
dog, daredevil skydiver. 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 as follows:
"He 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.
-- December 1980
On the 27th. December 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.
He parachuted onto the Arch, grasped the monument's beacon, and used the same parachute to glide down unharmed. KTVI said it was told:
"The feat was done as an act of
homage to Swyers, and was a
combination of a dare, a drunk,
and a tribute."
However on the day after the alleged incident, authorities declared 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 broadcast 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.
-- February 1986
An appeal by stuntman Dan Koko to be allowed to jump from the Arch was turned away in February 1986. Koko, who was a stunt double for Superman, wanted to perform the leap during Fourth of July celebrations.
-- September 1992
On the 14th. September 1992, 25-year-old John C. Vincent climbed to the top of the Gateway Arch using suction cups, and proceeded to parachute back to the ground. He was later charged with two misdemeanors: climbing a national monument, and parachuting in a national park.
Federal prosecutor Stephen Higgins called the act a "great stunt" but said that:
"It is something the Park
Service doesn't take lightly."
Vincent, a construction worker and diver from Harvey, Louisiana, said:
"I did it just for the excitement,
just for the thrill."
He had previously parachuted off the World Trade Center in May 1991. He said that scaling the Arch "wasn't that hard," and that he 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 the 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 the 14th. September 1992, 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 record the jump during a meeting of all three on the day before his stunt occurred.
Federal magistrate judge David D. Noce ruled on the 28th. January 1993 that Carroll had been involved in a conspiracy, and was guilty of both misdemeanor charges; the charges against Weinzetl were dropped by federal prosecutors. 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.
However 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."
After his guilty plea, Vincent was sentenced to a $1,000 fine, 25 hours of community service, and a year's probation. In December 1992, Vincent was sentenced to ninety days in jail for violating his probation.
-- 2013
In 2013, Alexander Polli, a European BASE jumper, planned to fly a wingsuit under the Arch, but had his demo postponed by the FAA.
Security
Two years after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, $1 million was granted to institute a counter-terrorism program for the Arch. Park officials were trained to note the activity of tourists, and inconspicuous electronic detection devices were installed.
After the September 11 attacks on the WTC in 2001, security efforts became more prominent, and security checkpoints moved to the entrance of the Arch's 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-foot-long (3.0 m), 32-inch-high (81 cm), 4,100-pound (1,900 kg) movable Jersey barriers 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 bollards 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.
Symbolism and Culture
Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, the Arch is said to typify:
"The pioneer spirit of the men and women
who won the West, and those of a latter
day to strive on other frontiers."
On the 14th. December 2003, Robert W. Duffy wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
"The Gateway Arch packs a significant symbolic
wallop just by standing there. But the Arch has a
mission greater than being visually affecting.
Its shape and monumental size suggest movement
through time and space, and invite inquiry into the
complex, fascinating story of America's national
expansion."
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. In the 1970's, a local sports team adopted the name "Fighting Arches"; St. Louis Community College later (when consolidating all athletic programs under a single banner) named its sports teams "Archers".
Robert S. Chandler, an NPS superintendent, said:
"Most visitors are awed by the size
and scale of the Arch, but they don't
understand what it's all about ... Too
many people see it as just a symbol
of the city of St. Louis."
The Arch has also appeared as a symbol of the State of Missouri. On the 22nd. November 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 water colorist 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 is 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 "Gateway to the West." Profits earned from selling the plates funded 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". The Arch has multiple "moods" -
reflective in sunlight, soft and pewterish in
mist; crisp as a line drawing one moment,
chimerical the next.
The Arch has paid for itself many times
over in wonder".
Some have questioned whether St. Louis really was - as Saarinen said - the "Gateway to the West". Kansas City-born "deadline poet" Calvin Trillin wrote:
"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."
With renovations in the 2010's of the visitor center, the message of the Arch has been more inclusive in its historic perspective, highlighting the impact of colonialism, and particularly the effect of American frontierism on the environment, land and people of the First Americans, as well as Native Mexicans.
It furthermore exhibits the urban history of the site and the struggle of its people, as well as of its construction workers for more rights, during the civil rights movement era.
The Arch's futuristic style has been seen as a symbol for the automobile age and the surrounding automobile-centric urban and interstate infrastructure, promising a technological future of a new accessible frontier.
This outlook has seen continuation, lending the Gateway Arch's iconic shape and meaning to the name and logo of the future Lunar Gateway, with its purpose as a gateway to the Moon and Mars.
On the 29th. February 1969, in an article in The New York Times, Louchheim praised the Arch's design as:
"A modern monument, fitting,
beautiful and impressive."
Cultural References to the Arch
-- Dutch composer Peter Schat wrote a 1997 work, Arch Music for St. Louis, Op. 44. for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. It premiered on the 8th. January 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 poem, "The Stoic", is set under the Gateway Arch. The work, "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.
-- Percy Jackson encounters Echidna and the Chimera in the Gateway Arch in The Lightning Thief, after he, Grover Underwood, and Annabeth Chase visit the Arch during their trip to California to recover the Master Bolt. Percy faces the Chimera, jumps out of the Arch, and falls into the Mississippi River.
-- A damaged Gateway Arch is prominently featured in Defiance, a science fiction television series. The apex is used as a radio station studio, with the arch itself acting as the station's antenna.
Vandalism and Maintenance of the Arch
The first act of vandalism against the Arch was committed in June 1968: the vandals scratched their names on various parts of the Arch. In all, $10,000 was spent that year in order to repair damage from vandalism. The Arch was first targeted by graffiti artists on the 5th. March 1969.
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 welds in an environment that often causes rain to enter the skin of the structure.
Maintenance workers use mops and a temporary setup of water containers to ease the problem. According to NPS documents, the corrosion and rust pose no safety concerns.
A more comprehensive study of the corrosion had been suggested as early as 2006 by architectural specialists studying the Arch, and reiterated in a 2010 Historic Structure Report.
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."
Stain samples were taken from the west face of the Arch on the 21st. October 2014 to determine the best way to clean it. The cleaning was estimated to cost about $340,000.
In 1984, structural engineer Tibor Szegezdy told the Smithsonian Magazine that:
"The Arch will stand for considerably
less than a thousand years before
collapsing in a wind storm."