St. Louis landmark.

Saw Stephen Fry's doco last night,"going around USA in London Taxi", came to St Louis and big arch dominated skyline..
someone give me info on this, never seen it before...curious.
He finished up in Wisconsin, see half the houses, rest snow, can have that.

I think the symbolism is ''bridge'' between eastern and western half of the country as St. Louis was ''gateway'' to the west. There is a little train of cars that you can ride up to the top of the arch, it is a tight fit and not for the claustrophobic -- once was plenty for me but it was worth while.

The arch is known as the Gateway To The West,and its pretty neat to go up in.There is also a basement area under it where the elevators and gift shop are

I"ve never been up to the top but I"ve been to the museum at the bottom. I couldn"t get up the nerve to go to the top, all I could think of was what kind of shaking I"d get it the New Madrid fault would hit ):0 It is an interesting place

I never knew I was claustraphobic until I rode up and down the Arch...but now I know. The cars are cramped, and it's hot as hell in them. The view's better on the observation deck at the top, but the ventilation sucks.

If I remember correct it takes 14 minutes to get to the top and 7 and a half to get down.

The neat thing I think I am right on is when they were building it the last peice had to be put in place at some exact time. The engineer had caculated the expansion of the stanlis steel skin. Everything had to be just right. Reall an engineering marvel.

Built between "62 and "65. Stainless steel construction. Both legs built up, and had to be jacked apart slightly to put the keystone piece in. 630 feet tall, 630 feet wide. If the bases were even a sixteenth of an inch off, it would not have been able to be put together. Impressive engineering feat considering no gps or computers at the time. I think I remember them saying it can swing 6 feet side to side in heavy winds...

you are right,the sun made the steel expand and they had to time it at just the right time of day so it would fit.bill m.

I saw it for the first time last year, and when my wife and I went out west a few months later I made a point to drive through St. Louis again. I wouldn't make a special trip to see it, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. It was erected as a memorial to the "westward expansion". St. Louis, being at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, was a natural starting point for explorers and settlers headed west.

The thing is so shiny that you can't look directly at it in the morning.

The exterior is constructed of large stainless steel plates welded together. I looked at several of the welds and they were nearly flawless. The inside has a fair amount of concrete in it for stability.

The elevator to the top is quite interesting. It consists of several cars, each sitting five or six people. They are in the shape of drums sitting on their sides. As others said, not a ride to take if you're claustrophobic. There is a mechanism that rotates the cars to keep them upright as you go up.

Because the arch's cross-section is triangular, you can look almost straight down as you look out the windows.

I forgot to mention: Eero Saarinen, the Arch's architect, lived here in Michigan and was a renown designer before he did the arch. He did a number of famous buildings around the country, including those at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Michigan.

If you have a chance to see it at night it is very erie (sp). Looks as if it is a very thin piece of shiney metal with no sides.

I was up there when I was a kid, but I remember it being 18" in a 100mph wind. I don't think you could stand in a structure swaying 6' side to side, and not get hurt. It probably doesn't catch that much wind as thin as it is.

Here is you a link to it.

Whizkidkyus
Gateway Arch

Thank you all for your contribution,
seeing that on tele turned into a very impressive story.