When people complain about places that are designated National Parks and shouldn’t be, one of the top places on their list is Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri.  Gateway Arch is not one of those spectacular natural areas like Grand Canyon.  It is also not a place where history is preserved like Boston or Jamestown.  But it is beautiful and inspiring in its own way.

Tom and I have been to Gateway Arch National Park many times, although this is the first time we went since it was designated a National Park.  It was initially built as a National Memorial to commemorate three historic events.  1. The Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and subsequent westward movement of American explorers and pioneers.  2.  The first civil government west of the Mississippi River.  3.  The debate over slavery raised by the Dred Scott case.

The focal point of the national park is the Gateway Arch, a steel catenary arch that was completed in 1965.  In addition, the park includes a park along the Mississippi River on the site of the earliest buildings of the city; the Old Courthouse, a former state and federal courthouse where the Dred Scott case originated; and the museum at the Gateway Arch. It is the smallest national park in the United States at 91 acres.

 

Tom and I visited the Gateway Arch in 1988 with John and again in 2004 when our Boy Scout Troop rode the Katy Trail across Missouri.  The Boy Scouts rode their bicycles from St. Charles to Clifton City and then took the train back to St. Louis.  We finished in St. Louis on July 4, when there was a big festival on the lawn at Gateway Arch.  The scouts all went up in the arch, attended the concert in the park, toured the museum, and watched fireworks from the park over the Mississippi River.  It was the highlight of the trip.

 

 

 

 

Our visit this time was shorter and quieter.  Despite those several visits to the Arch, I had never gotten the stamp.  So, as long as we were so close, we decided to swing by so I could get the stamp.  We didn’t go up in the arch, although that would have been cool.  Instead, we talked to a ranger for a while, collected the stamp, and walked through the museum.  We also used the restrooms – still the #1 purpose for a Visitors Center.

Before heading back to the parking garage, we took a walk across the lawn to the Mississippi River.  It is always an impressive sight.  Should Gateway Arch be a National Park?  I don’t know.  I don’t judge the parks, I just appreciate and enjoy them.  And collect my stamps as I visit.