St Louis Arch

The Arch in St. Louis is a well known landmark.  There is not a doubt when you see a picture of this structure what and where it is located.  The Arch was started in 1963 and completion finished in 1965.  It was designed by Eero Saarinen a Finnish-American and Hannskarl Bandel a structural engineer in 1947.  It is 630 feet tall and is 630 feet wide at the base.  At the moment, it is the tallest monument in the United States.

The inside is hollow to allow a tram to travel with visitors to the top observation area.   Before the elevator system was invented, a visitor would have to climb 1076 steps to reach the top.  The elevator system is unique as only five people can enter a car at one time.  There are eight cars hooked together on each side.  A maximum of 80 people can be on the tram heading to the top.  It takes approximately 4 minutes to reach the top, but only 3 minutes to descend.  The observation deck has 32 small windows for viewing the Mississippi river and Downtown St. Louis. 

Notable events that have transpired include the death of Eero Saarinen before the arch was finished by a brain tumor, several light aircraft have been able to fly under the arch, a man tried to parachute onto the arch and jump off only to slide down the arch to his death and one man tried to climb to the top using suction cups on his hands and feet but was talked out of it.  In 2007 people where trapped in the Arch due to electric problems.  All were rescued successfully.

The Arch was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987