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Gateway Arch National Park

Formerly the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial this was designated the 60th national park in 2018.

Missouri

1970, 2021

About The Park

Gateway Arch National Park was added to the National Parks System in 2018. When we were there in 1970 we were completely unaware of the name Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. To everyone it was known simply as the ‘Gateway Arch’.

The arch is an impressive structure rising 630 feet above the surrounding parkland. Inside the arch is a tram that will take you to the top where you can disembark and take in the view and snap some photos. The trip takes about 4 minutes to get to the top where you can, on a rare clear day, see for 30 miles. The windows are 27” wide but a mere 7” high which hardly gives you the panoramic view you would expect from such a high vantage point.

Larger windows would have made for much better viewing but the pressure on the section at the top of the arch dictated the small window size.

Underneath the arch is the visitor center, museum, cafe and tram entry area. It was done very nicely with all of it below ground and landscaped into the parkland. You are only aware of it if you approach from the front entrance.

In the visitor center there is a model of the tram car that you can step into and see, if you are claustrophobic, whether or not you want to take the ride to the top. The trams small doors have windows that can make them seem less claustrophobic. As you ride up and down you see stairs, electrical cables and workshops which go by very quickly.

While the parks service says the area at the top is large enough for 160 people, when you look at the photo gallery picture of the top, you’ll see that cramming that many people in that not-very-large space might be a stretch. Maybe we were lucky that Covid restrictions were in place which severely limited the number of people at the top and in the tram cars. There are 8 tram cars in the ‘train’ which each have 5 seats but they will only allow family (or friend) groups to ride together (or a single). So if you are a single individual you get your own car; my wife and I rode in one car.

At the top you have your own numbered stations corresponding to the number of the tram car that you rode up in. An East view on one side and the West view on the other so, no matter what station you are at, everyone has the same view.

They limit the amount of time to about 15-20 minutes which is fine. it is not a place that you will want to stay for any great length of time. At the end of your time you exit to the other side and ride down on that side. The ride down is 3 minutes.

In non-Covid times people would be coming up on both sides which would make for larger crowds especially since they would be filling the tram cars with at least 5 people each. Covid has severely constricted the amount of people who can get tickets. They open the calendar on the first of the month for that month only so, if you are planning a visit, keep that in mind since they sell out fast. You are very unlikely to get a ticket at the park on the day you visit. The link for tickets below will get you directly to the site to purchase a ticket.

In pre-Covid times, if you planned to visit in the morning the advice was to take a good look up to see if there is fog. On cool, damp mornings the fog can make for zero visibility at the top. Your minimum $14 ticket is good for one visit to the top. That being said I would not recommend reserving a morning ticket time since you are not very likely to be able to make that choice when you show up at the arch.

The surrounding parkland is beautifully landscaped and a welcome respite from the downtown area of St. Louis just hundreds of feet away. For most people, who visit national parks for the beauty of nature and the lure of unspoiled wilderness, it will not impress. This is truly a drive-by park. One day is enough to tour the arch, courthouse and museum.

*note* In June, 2021 the courthouse was closed to visitors so we could not tour it. If this tour is important to you then you should check with the National Parks Service to see if it is open to visitors when you plan to be there.

In my opinion making this a national park was a political act to take advantage of the monetary value of a national parks designation. All of the other national parks have significant parklands. The smallest national park was Hot Springs National Park which is 5,550 acres. Gateway Arch National Park is now the smallest by far at a mere 91 acres and resides in a downtown area bounded by two interstate highways!

By whatever reasoning that Gateway Arch is now a national park then why not have the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island National Park instead of the current designation of Statue of Liberty National Monument or Mount Rushmore National Park (1,278 acres) instead of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Or for that matter why not Golden Gate National Park (82,000 acres!) which is currently Golden Gate National Recreation Area and encompasses the Golden Gate Bridge. National parks all had, until Gateway Arch, real parkland instead of a patch of greenery in the midst of a city. The purpose of a national parks designation, which requires an act of Congress, is to provide additional protection from things like mining, drilling, and logging. Gateway Arch has no need for this extra protection. It is located in the downtown area of a city and no one is going to mine, drill or log it!

My point is that places like Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge are all man-made structures and are usually designated as monuments or memorials.

Gateway Arch National Memorial (or even ‘Monument’) would be consistent with the existing nomenclature.

Additionally, the National Parks Service came out against designating Gateway Arch a national park.

I realize that this opinion probably will not be popular with the State of Missouri. It is not my intention to denigrate the Gateway Arch or offend the people of Missouri. As one who has visited all 63 national parks and many national monuments, I believe this is an objective assessment of what a national park historically is in the context of the National Parks System.

Wildlife

The wildlife consists of the usual assortment of city-dwelling creatures -  squirrels, field mice, pigeons and other birds.

Lodging

The park does not have lodging in it. The park is located in downtown St. Louis where there is ample lodging in the park’s vicinity to suit any visitor’s taste and budget.

Hiking  

There are no marked trails. There are just paved walkways meandering about an expanse of grass and two ponds. It’s a nice place where you can sit and relax as you would in any city park.

Other Points of Interest

Old Courthouse

Across the street from the parkland there is the Old Courthouse. This structure’s main claim to fame is that it was the site of the original trial in the famous Dred Scott case. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom in 1846. He won in this court but the case went all the way up to the Supreme Court. In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decided against him by a vote of 7-2. The court ruled that slaves were not citizens and, as such, had no right to bring suit in the federal courts on any matter. Ironically, while the case was under appeal, the woman who owned and opposed Scott in the suit was widowed and married a U.S. Congressman who was opposed to slavery. After the Supreme Court decision she turned ownership of Scott and his family over to people who gave him his freedom. Scott died the following year a free man.

Gateway Arch National Park Photo Gallery

Other National Parks Within a Day’s Drive

Hot Springs National Park is a town and park that you can visit that was a place where 1930’s gangsters went to relax. It is 400 miles to the south and about a 6.5 hour drive.
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