Completed in 1965 on the riverfront where St. Louis was founded in 1764, the Gateway Arch is the tallest arch in the world. Eero Saarinen designed it in 1947 as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, and it soon became known as the Gateway to the West.
It rises 630 feet in the form of a weighted catenary, the curve a hanging chain makes when turned upside down. Each leg was built from stacked steel triangles that narrow toward the top, clad in stainless steel. The sculptor Carl Milles suggested making the legs triangular rather than square, and Saarinen adjusted the final curve by eye.
The arch opened to the public in 1967. A tram inside the legs, running since July 1967, carries visitors to the top. It is a National Historic Landmark within Gateway Arch National Park.
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