The Amazing Gateway Arch - St Louis

St Louis is so full of history.  

We knew when we were planning this trip there was going to be no way to absorb all the history and story in the founding, growth and development of the city.  We remembered some accounts of the influence of the fur trappers and traders back in the early days (1700’s) when they traded pelts there with the Indians and French along the Mississippi River

We couldn’t with to get there and stayed mixed it up some by staying in a Fairfield Inn hotel in Collinsville, IL, about 15 miles east of the Gateway Arch National Park.  We ordered tickets on line and printed them out a month ago.  We arrived in plenty of time for the 9:10 tram ride to the top of the Arch.

We could see the Arch from miles away as we drove into town.  We found a parking lot a few blocks away and arrived before the visitor’s center opened at 9:00 am.  

The park commemorates a number of things in our country’s history.  First it is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s role in opening the West, most notably commissioning Meriwether Lewis (and William Clark) to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific Coast. 

The expedition left in 1804 and returned triumphantly in 1806.  After reading Stephen Ambrose’s account - “Undaunted Courage” I was stuck by their courage and Clark’s ability to pull it off.  I think it is no less significant for their time than landing men on the moon has been in our time.

Our ride to the top on the tram was at 9:10.  We got in line and it was well organized.  The guide offered a few historical facts as we climbed into our tram. I was surprised how tight it was and had not read about that in the reviews.  It was a 4 minute ride to the top which went fairly quickly.

Once at the top, we had 7 minutes to go from side to side to take in the spectacular views.  It was awesome.

Interesting Facts:

The Gateway Arch is a symbol of the role St. Louis play in the westward expansion of the United State in the 1800’s. It is 630 feet tall and 630 wide.  The Arch is designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes and designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds. Construction of the Gateway Arch began on Feb 12, 1963 and completed on October 28, 1965.  Here’s a 3-min YouTube video of the Gateway Arch National Park: click here

After the tram to the top we spent more time in the museum.  First we saw the orientation movie: Monument to the Dream. We watched the movie on YouTube the day before in our hotel room.

After that, we walked around the museum and could have spent hours.   It was very well done and reminded be of the museums underground at Ford’s Theater and the nation's capitol Visitor Center, both in Washington D.C.  The Gateway Arch underwent a $380M upgrade/renovation in 2018.

We enjoyed our time in St Louis and got some ideas of things to see if we can revisit at some point.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles, Coast-to-Coast 2023 travels!