That’s a Very Big Arch!
The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is over 60 stories tall! The arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, a national park. The arch was built to honor the pioneers who helped settle the western states. The arch is sometimes known as the Gateway to the West.
In 1947 and 1948, an architect named Eero Saarinen (pictured here with a model of his design) won a contest for the design of the Gateway Arch. But construction of the arch did not begin until 1959. Finally, in 1965, it was finished. So it took almost 20 years to design and build the Gateway Arch. It took a long time, but it was worth it.
If you visit the arch, you can take a tram (it’s like an elevator) all the way to the top. From there, you can see the nearby Mississippi River, one of the largest rivers in the world. And, on a clear day, you can see thirty miles in each direction!
Fun Facts About the Gateway Arch
Fun Fact: The arch’s two legs were built separately, and if their measurements were off by as little as 1/64th of an inch, they would not have been able to join at the top. But the measurements were so precise that when the two legs were joined, they fit perfectly.
Fun Fact: The stainless-steel pieces of the arch were shipped in via train from Pennsylvania and had to be assembled on site.
Fun Fact: The arch is as tall as it is wide. Although it might not look like it, the arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide. Since you’re not always looking at the arch straight on, you experience an illusion that it’s much taller than it is wide.
Keep Trying!
Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald
My motto was always to keep swinging.
Hank Aaron
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to always try just one more time.
Thomas Edison
About Missouri
It’s a Fact: The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City.
It’s a Fact: The biggest cities in Missouri are St. Louis and Kansas City.
It’s a Fact: The abbreviation for Missouri is MO.
It’s a Fact: The Missouri River, which begins out west in the Rocky Mountains, flows all the way to Missouri and empties into the Mississippi River.
It’s a Fact: Harry S. Truman is the only United States President from the state of Missouri.
Fun Fact: The U. S. president during the American Civil War was Abraham Lincoln.
Fun Fact: The longest river in the world is the Nile in Africa.
Fun Fact: The biggest river in America is the Mississippi.
Fun Fact: If the earth were the size of a tennis ball, the sun would be a huge ball 24 feet across, and it would be half a mile away.
Fun Fact: The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean in the world. It covers about one fifth of the earth’s surface.
Just for fun,
When you take the tram to the top of the St. Louis Arch, which river can you see?
What's the capital of Missouri?
Which river is longer: The Mississippi, the Missouri, or the Nile?
Who's the only United States president from Missouri?
Here's a riddle for you:
Why can't a man living in Missouri be buried in Arkansas?
For fun-to-read books about a girl detective who homeschools on a train... check out The Mystery Ryders, a series from the creators of the Homeschool Express.
