October 28 - Gateway Arch!

Posted on October 28, 2021

Key Points

This is an update of my post published on October 28, 2010:

The most famous structure in St. Louis, Missouri, the Gateway Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It represents the “gateway to the west,” since St. Louis was a common launching spot for westward-going covered wagons.

It is hard to imagine how anyone can build ANY arch, let alone a smoothly-curving 630-foot tall arch that is hollow inside so people can ride a tram to the top!

But this short video shows the top of the arch being put into place on this date in 1965.

(This much longer video talks about how the entire arch was built – but watch out for the old-fashioned narration that is so rah-rah about European Americans going West; remember that history isn’t simplistic, and it wasn’t glorious to push Native peoples out of their ancestral homes!)

The Gateway Arch is the tallest monument in the United States. Made of stainless steel skin covering a sandwich of two carbon steel walls with reinforced concrete in the middle, on the bottom half, and carbon steel and rebar, on the top half, this monument is exactly as wide as it is tall.

The tram is an egg-shaped “elevator” with five seats per compartment and a flat floor. Because there are two bases (one on the north end, and one on the south end), and each base has a train of eight linked compartments, the tram can transport 80 passengers at a time.

At the top of the arch is an observation deck.

In each leg of the arch there is also a stairway for emergency use. I wouldn’t like to be in the top when an emergency occurs—and have to walk down 1,076 steps!

Learn more about arches.

This modern arch is truly and architectural wonder, but people have been making arches since ancient times.

Here is a webpage about arches.

This video shows a LOT about how arches work.

Try to build an arch, maybe!

Here’s an idea:

Make an arch out of boxes, or pieces of wood, or clay. First, lay the arch out on a board laid flat on the floor. Then raise up the arch, take away the board, and see if your construction holds!

This website carefully details how to build a Roman arch with sugar cubes.