Qualla: Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, NPS from St. Louis, MO, USA, CC BY 2.0. A project manager for the arch's construction once said that a 62-story building would have been easier to build. 'In a building, everything is straight up, one thing on top of another,' Stan Wolf explained. 'In this arch, everything is curved.' He was talking about engineering, but the same could be said about the structure's tortured path to existence -- a journey that took 32 years from idea to completion, survived a fraudulent election, a world war, a Korean War delay, the death of its architect, labor disputes, and civil rights protests staged on its own half-built legs.

Read more: Gateway Arch on Qualla

Image: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, NPS from St. Louis, MO, USA | CC BY 2.0

Gateway Arch: The Shape of Weight

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Smallbones, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Gateway Arch is not a parabola, and it is not a pure catenary. It is a weighted catenary -- the shape a chain would take if its links grew heavier toward the bottom. Eero Saarinen chose this form because it looked less pointed and less steep than an ordinary catenary, creatin...

Read more: Gateway Arch on Qualla

Image: Smallbones | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gateway Arch: Climbing for Justice

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. On July 14, 1964, during the lunch hour, two members of the Congress of Racial Equality scaled the north leg of the unfinished arch. Percy Green and Richard Daly climbed 125 feet to expose what they called federal funds being used to build a national monument that racially discri...

Read more: Gateway Arch on Qualla

Image: Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0

Gateway Arch: Two Bottles of Champagne

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rwietlake, CC BY-SA 4.0. When Saarinen won the 1947 design competition, the official notification was addressed to 'E. Saarinen,' and his father Eliel -- a celebrated architect in his own right who had also submitted an entry -- assumed the prize was his. The family opened champagne. Two hours later came...

Read more: Gateway Arch on Qualla

Image: Rwietlake | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gateway Arch: The View from 630 Feet

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Inside the hollow arch, a unique tram system carries visitors to an observation deck at the top. Each egg-shaped capsule holds five passengers and tilts to keep riders level as it climbs the curved interior on a track system that is part elevator, part amusement ride. At the summ...

Read more: Gateway Arch on Qualla

Image: Daniel Schwen | CC BY-SA 4.0