Is it really an Arch?

The Gateway Arch has become the symbol of St. Louis. It is easily recognized by everyone even if

they do not know the history of the Arch. There are several more historically important buildings
in the “riverfront area”. The Old Courthouse is where the Dred Scott case was decided, and the
Old Cathedral is the first cathedral west of the Mississippi. But it is the Arch that is the most
noted today.

The CityArchRiver Project is underway and Dodge Moving & Storage was awarded the moving and storage part of the project! It is a wonderful project and has actually been the dream of civic leaders since the 1930’s. Their idea was to utilize the entire 92 acres (roughly the original site of the French colonial town of St. Louis) to interpret St. Louis’ role in the westward expansion. Over the years, many plans have been reviewed and rejected. But 84 years later, their dreams are coming to fruition in CityArchRiver. When I moved to St. Louis in 1966 from southern Indiana the Arch was still under construction. (Yes, I am that old!) The last piece was attached that year and both “legs” were opened to the public in 1968. That same year the Cardinals with Bob Gibson at the plate won the World Series in 7 games to beat the Boston Red Socks. Unfortunately, I think the Red Socks have made up for that in recent history!

In the summer of 1968 I brought my dad to St. Louis. We went downtown to a Cardinal‘s game. I was excited for dad to get to go to a Cardinal’s game in Busch Stadium. It was his first ever. We
could only listen on the radio in Indiana. I also wanted him to see the Arch. We parked in a parking garage which totally amazed Dad. We walked over to look at the Arch. After looking all around and taking pictures, I asked Dad, “What do you think? It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?”

Dad looked a bit longer and said, “Well it’s tall and it’s shiny, but I don’t know what it is good for.” Sorry to say, I think a lot of people at the time thought the same way. After all, it cost $13,420,168 to build! Couldn’t that money been put to better use? In comparison the current renovation for City Arch River is an estimated $380million. Wonder what Dad would think of that? But despite the pros and cons, over the years the Arch has brought millions of visitors and even more revenue to the St. Louis region.