2024, Family, History, Technology, Uncategorized

Gateway Arch

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When  I was nine, the St. Louis Arch was completed.  Not the whole she-bang (viewing room, elevator, greenway, museum) but the structure of The Arch.  It took 2½ years from breaking ground until October 28, 1965, when the last piece was put in place.

Although my family was actually living in Jefferson City at the time of the completion, we were St. Louis folks through and through.  The Arch was a big deal back then and we had been down to the site a couple of times during the build; it was exciting to see the two legs each inching up. 

As a child it seemed impossible to me that they could build each leg separately and actually have them meet in the middle.  The day that they put the last piece in place, joining up both legs, it was big news and as a family we watched it on television.  Here’s a short version:

At the time there were a lot of folks who thought once they put the last piece in place, The Arch would just fall down.  My father was not in that camp, asserting every time it came up in conversation that it would be an engineering marvel.  I guess he’s right – it’s been standing 59 years now.  Growing up mostly in St. Louis, I’ve actually been up in the Arch about a dozen times; it was always on the agenda when folks visited from out of town.  Since it’s my “home-town” monument, I’m pretty proud that it’s still standing!

Any monument you think is particularly impressive?  Or not?

30 thoughts on “Gateway Arch”

  2. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I am sitting. In a surgery waiting room this morning while Lou has a procedure to determine if he is a candidate for a back pain intervention. They have in the waiting room, quiet, pretty music on and NO TV. NO NEWS. Yippee!

    Favorite monument? Crazy Horse Mountain in South Dakota. It gives me spine shovers each time I see it.

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  3. I don’t remember who the story was about maybe it was Annie Liebowitz it was talking about how she had her camera and went to the arch and was going to take a picture of it instead of taking the picture like everyone else does getting a picture of the arch in its entirety she went underneath and took a picture of the legs towards the top and that different approach to the photography let her know that photography was in her blood and that she needed to do things differently than the average joke
    I’ve been to St. Louis a couple times on business, but I’ve never been to the arch. Sorry I missed it. I
    i don’t see a lot of monuments but I guess maybe the gateway to Yellowstone in Gardner Montana would be one. I can’t think of any monuments out in the Rockies or I’ve traveled extensively. I’m only been to New York City a couple of times and I guess Yankee Stadium could certainly be considered the monument I went out there with my son when they were small to see the last game played in Yankee Stadium before they moved across the street to the new Yankee Stadium. I haven’t seen the other monuments in New York other than that bull on Wall Street. When I was there on tour with my daughters band class, we went into a couple museums which are monuments of assort and when I was in Washington DC, I drove by a couple but didn’t stop tophotograph or to go inside.
    st. Louis was the gateway to the west back in pioneer days when the wagons would meet and depart from St. Louis it was always interesting to me that St. Louis was chosen as that point
    i would wonder why but then I couldn’t figure out where else would be a good spot to meet to head out west
    budweiser st louis blues both music and hockey.the cardinals both baseball and football before football left
    the arch is a good way to say st louis is a monumental city

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    1. There is tension between St. Louis and Kansas City over who should really be called the gateway. But St. Louis won out because supposedly more people did leave from there —- it had to do with the confluence (I believe) of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.

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      2. There’s also St. Joseph, MO, which was the westernmost point reached by railroad before the Civil War, the starting point for the Pony Express and the jumping-off point for the Oregon Trail. Your gateway depends on where you are heading, I guess, and on who can make the loudest claim.

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        1. Yeah, my guess is always been that St. Louis was able to pony up more cash for this than either Saint Joseph or Kansas City

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  4. If Crazy Horse monument ever gets completed, it will be the most impressive in my book. But the last time I saw it was perhaps 20 years ago and from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like much progress has been made to date. Maybe because it is so huge.

    I also like the Viet Nam memorial and Jefferson monument in DC.

    Chris in Owatonna

    **BSP** Hey all you TBers in the northern Twin Cities! I’ll be at North Hennepin Community College, 7411 85th Avenue North, Brooklyn Park, MN, for the “Does Spending Bucks Craft & Gift Expo.” COme on over and meet me, maybe buy a book or two, and get an early start on your holiday shopping and browse the dozens of other arts and crafts vendors who will have mostly handmade or unique items to share with you.

    This is my first time doing this event, so come on over and help make it a success. Shop small, shop local, keep your money in our communities. **END BSP**

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  5. I’ll have to think about it. Number one, I prefer nature’s monumental creations over human-made ones. Second, I haven’t been much of a traveler in my lifetime. I saw some impressive monuments in Dublin. I could have stared at the architecture and monuments at Trinity College all day. The famous Old Library at Trinity College is certainly a monument in itself.

    American monuments though… I do like the Lincoln Memorial monument. It seems so serene to me, with the parkway and formal gardens and the pool, and old Abe sitting there maybe thinking about who we are as a country.

    I kind of like the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Is that a monument?

    I’ve never seen the Arch. I have seen Mount Rushmore, and it is impressive, but I can’t say that I really like it. I need to travel more to answer this question.

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  7. Standing atop Monk’s Mound at Cahokia, I could see the St. Louis Arch in the distance. Both are certainly monumental but much of the monumentality of the Cahokia complex must now reside in the mind’s eye.

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  8. I was at a conference in St. Louis a few years ago and took a morning off to walk down to the Arch. Things were being remodeled so I couldn’t go up, but it was fun to walk around there. I liked it.

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  9. The monuments at Civil War battle fields are impressive to me. Many are commonly “this regiment fought here.” I have visited many battlefields and attempted to research the particulars, especially long deceased individuals. It helps me get a sense of what an upheaval of life occurred during those years and the repercussions that continue to this 2024.

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  10. Late to the party. I don’t want to sound like a braggart but I have seen many monuments in my travels ( all 7 continents – 54 countries in all). World wide my favorites have been the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, and the Eiffel Tower. The Burj Khalifa isn’t a monument but as the current world’s tallest building, it is quite impressive. Here in the US, I like the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and Crazy Horse (if it ever gets finished). I have been to the Arch and it is impressive inside and out.

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  13. I’ve been up in the Gateway Arch, twice. It’s an impressive structure and I like it as a symbol as well.

    Another impressive sculpture is the Dignity statue located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near Chamberlain, South Dakota.

    I agree with K-Two, the Great Wall of Chine is something to behold.

    My least favorite monument is probably Stone Mountain, Georgia.

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