One of the great places to visit in the St. Louis area is the Gateway Arch, which is part of the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial (National Monument). The Arch is in downtown St. Louis on the Mississippi River riverfront. There is a very good Museum of Westward Expansion in the lower levels under the arch which preserves some of the rarest artifacts from the days of Lewis and Clark. There are great exibits portraying the history of the American West. While in the museum area, a must do thing to do is to take a tram ride to the top of the Arch.
Another place to visit while at the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial is the Old Courthouse. This is the site of 1847 Dred Scot trial. Where slave Dred Scott, with his wife Harriet, sued for, and were granted, their freedom. The Old Courthouse can be seen in the photo that shows downtown St. Louis and westward.
While at the Arch, another great side trip is to go down on the riverfront and take a trip one of the sightseeing tour boats.
From the top of the Arch, there are some great views of St. Louis landmarks.
Busch Stadium (completed in 2006) - Home of the 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the series in five games against the Detroit Tigers.
Edward Jones Dome - Home of the St. Louis Rams Super Bowl XXXIV Champions in 2000. St. Louis Rams 23, Tennessee Titans 16 - January 30, 2000.
The historic Eades Bridge which was completed in 1874 , is one of the great American masterpieces, and it's virtually unknown. Designed to allow trains across the Mississippi - and assure St. Louis' dominance as a trading hub - it was the first major bridge to use steel and cantilevered construction.
Downtown St. Louis skyline. On clear days you can see almost 10 miles. The photo below is westward from the Arch and the buildings in the far west are about 6.5 miles away on the westward edge of Forest Park. In the foreground of this photo is the Old Courthouse.
Here are several different views of the Arch.
From underneath:
From the park grounds:
Views of the Arch from the Tom Sawyer sightseeing tour boat.
Eades Bridge and Arch:
Tour helicopter (Tour St. Louis by Helicopter) in front of Arch:
A diorama in the Museum of Westward Expansion depicting the builders of the Arch.
Grandchilren, Alex (far left) and Jacob (far right) boarding the tram to the top of the Arch on July 20, 2009.
That's a nice photo with the bridge and the arch. Henry Petroski discusses the Eads Bridge in his book To Engineer Is Human (Ch. 13), but I had forgotten about it.
ReplyDeleteI went and looked it up and he contrasted it to the Brooklyn Bridge, completed nearly a decade later. I was surprised because Roebling seems to get all the acclaim for caisson technology even though though Eads had already done it.
I guess New Yorkers always think theirs is best!