The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West,[5] is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorialin St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States,[4] Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary arch.[4]
The arch is located at the site of St. Louis' foundation,[6] on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau, to build a city.[7][8]
The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and German-American structural engineerHannskarl Bandel in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965,[9][10] costing US$13 million at the time[11] (approximately $95,900,000 in 2012[2]). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.[12]
