ESTABLISHED 2018
193 ACRES
ANNUAL VISITORS: 2.06 M

In stark contrast to the classic national parks with their grand vistas and endless forests, Gateway is a small urban retreat set in downtown St. Louis on the banks of the Mississippi River. In the 19th century, the city served as a jumping-off point for homesteaders heading out to stake their claims in the Louisiana Purchase the vast western land President Thomas Jefferson bought from the French in 1803 as well as in other frontier territories the U.S. acquired and conquered. To commemorate this westward movement, the government hired the architect Eero Saarinen to create a monument here. In the mid 1960s, he fashioned a 630 foot tall tapering stainless-steel arch (the tallest in the world) that represents the entrance to the territory beyond.

Originally a national monument, the site underwent a large renovation and expansion a decade ago, completing Saarinen’s original grand plan, and then received national park status.