St. Louis, Missouri, is associated with many iconic cultural and historical qualities. Visitors and locals alike rave about the city’s barbecue, gooey butter cake, toasted ravioli, and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. The St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues are famous across the country. Forest Park’s world-class (and free) museums serve as an attraction for travelers across the Midwest. Historically, the city hosted major industrial innovation, the infamous Dred Scott Case, and the start of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Several massive companies – most notably Anheuser-Busch – call the city their home. But why is Gateway Arch, the city’s centerpiece, a national park?

Nicknamed the “Gateway to the West,” the massive manmade monument towers 630 feet over the Mississippi River. Gateway Arch sits on the Mississippi riverfront, making it the first thing many people see when they cross into Missouri from Illinois. It is as synonymous with St. Louis’ skyline as the Empire State Building is for New York, or the Eiffel Tower for Paris.

While the monument is undoubtedly impressive, its existence has perturbed me for many years. Since starting my journey to the national parks in 2018, I’ve constantly asked myself the same question. Why – oh why – is Gateway Arch a national park?

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First, Some Background…

While I’ve spent my most recent years living in Indiana, I was raised primarily in St. Louis. My family moved to the suburbs of St. Louis from Georgia in 2007. From 2007 until 2016 – and even during visits to my dad’s family in St. Louis before 2007 – I frequented the Gateway Arch. The structure fascinated me in my younger years. I traveled to the top of the Arch in its famous cramped elevators at least a dozen times, visited the museum below it often, and took countless photos of the structure from the ground. I visited the Arch with family, on school field trips, and with friends visiting the city for the first time. Back then, the Arch was called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It was still maintained by the National Park Service, but didn’t earn the “national park” title until 2018.

Simply put: I’m a regular at the Gateway Arch. Despite my ramblings in this post, I honestly really like the Arch. My beef with the park lies entirely in its new name.

What is the Gateway Arch?

As described by the National Park Service’s website: “The Gateway Arch reflects St. Louis’ role in the Westward Expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century.”

In other words: it’s a monument to our exploration and settlement of the Louisiana Purchase. It reflects on the actions our founders took to create the United States we live in today. To a cynic – like me – it represents the same hubris of the men who slaughtered Native Americans, destroyed natural ecosystems, and bastardized land for their own purposes. To an optimist, it represents our country’s storied past that allows us to live the lives we live today.

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In any case, Gateway Arch is a huge hunk of stainless steel that is dizzying to look at from the ground.

What Does Gateway Arch National Park Include?

Several manmade attractions comprise Gateway Arch National Park. Its namesake monument sits at the center, allowing visitors to ride in elevators to enjoy views of the city from 630 feet in the air. The Old Courthouse – site of the aforementioned Dred Scott decision in 1857 – sits on the park’s west end.

Underneath the Arch, visitors can find a gift shop and a museum that details the history of American westward expansion. In its current form, the museum does an admirable job of addressing the negatives of that expansion. In particular, it doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the atrocities committed against Native Americans.

In and around the park, visitors can find leisurely walks along tree-lined sidewalks and lakes, historical education, riverfront cruises, and helicopter tours. The park is home to a plethora of local events that take place throughout the year.

At 0.14 square miles in area, Gateway Arch is the smallest national park. It is the only national park to consist exclusively of manmade terrain and objects.

History of the Gateway Arch

While you can find a more comprehensive history of the Arch on Wikipedia (or anywhere else), I’ll provide a brief summary below…

The memorial was originally conceived in 1933 as a monument to Thomas Jefferson and his greatest achievement: the Louisiana Purchase. In 1934, Congress approved funds for the memorial. In 1935, Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the National Park Service to manage the park and – with an executive order – designated the park as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The park would hold this title until 2018. In the years following the memorial’s designation, the NPS demolished historical buildings in the park boundary to prepare the space for construction of a then-undefined structure.

After the Arch’s design was selected through a competition, construction on the monument began in 1963 and concluded in 1965. Its construction consisted of an elaborate and innovative technique that saw large triangular cross-sections placed one at a time with large cranes. The Arch has towered proudly above St. Louis’ skyline ever since the placement of its final piece.

What is a National Park?

Before I can criticize the Gateway Arch’s title, I should first define what a national park really is.

Parks, Monuments, Memorials… Oh My!

As of October 2023, the National Park Service manages 425 units across the United States. Not all of these units, however, are technically “national parks.” Each unit receives one of a variety of designations. For instance, national monuments – like Devils Tower, Muir Woods, or the Statue of Liberty – tend to preserve a specific structure or natural feature of some significance. National memorials – like Mount Rushmore and the Lincoln Memorial – honor a person or event that holds some historical significance. Before 2018, Gateway Arch was a national memorial.

The NPS maintains many types of units, like national lakeshores, seashores, battlefields, and recreation areas. Visit their website for a full list of the designations and their definitions.

National parks – of which there are 63 – are the flagship unit of the NPS. Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Acadia, Everglades, Olympic, and Big Bend are all fine examples of national parks. According to the NPS website…

Generally, a national park contains a variety of resources and encompasses large land or water areas to help provide adequate protection of the resources.

National Park Service

62 of the 63 national parks fit the above definition. Can you guess which one doesn’t?

Does Gateway Arch Fit the “National Park” Definition?

The short answer to that question? No, Gateway Arch does not match the definition of a national park. As of 2022, it is the only national park that doesn’t fit the definition.

• Does Gateway Arch contain a variety of resources? NOPE. The park contains no natural resources, and there is little variety in the few resources it does contain.
• Does Gateway Arch encompass large land or water areas? Again, NOPE. At 0.14 square miles, the park is absolutely tiny. The next smallest National Park – Hot Springs – is 64 times larger than Gateway Arch.

National Memorials

Conveniently, there are two other National Park Service unit types whose definitions fit the Gateway Arch. The first designation – national memorial – was the Gateway Arch’s original title: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

The title national memorial is most often used for areas that are primarily commemorative.

National Park Service

The Gateway Arch was built as a commemorative monument, so it 100% fits this definition.

National Monuments

The national monument designation also describes the Gateway Arch.

A national monument is intended to preserve at least one nationally significant resource. It is usually smaller than a national park and lacks its diversity of attractions.

National Park Service

One could argue that the Gateway Arch is a “nationally significant resource,” and it is certainly smaller than a National Park. While most national monuments consist of natural spaces, there are several manmade national monuments like the Statue of Liberty and African Burial Ground that have set a precedent. So, the Gateway Arch could also fit this definition.

The Question Remains…

So, why is Gateway Arch a national park, not a national memorial or a national monument? Why did it change from a national memorial to a national park?

The reason is actually quite simple: political claptrap.

Gateway Arch: From National Memorial to National Park

In 2013, the National Park Service kicked off a $380 million project to renovate the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Called the CityArchRiver project, these renovations aimed to completely revitalize the visitor experience in the park. It included a major update to the museum and visitor center, changes to the grounds, and renovations to the Old Courthouse. As of 2022, this project is still ongoing. It will conclude once renovations to the Old Courthouse are complete.

Initially, I thought the name change from Jefferson National Expansion Memorial to Gateway Arch National Park was directly related to these renovations. I assumed that redesignating the site as a national park included rewarding it with a boatload of government money. In addition, the NPS reopened the new visitor center below the Arch in 2018, the same year as the name change. Surely, that was intentional?

Upon further investigation, I found this was not the case. The bill that ultimately changed the park’s name didn’t crop up until several years after the renovations began…

S.1438: A Simple Bill for a Simple Change

Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican and the senior United States senator for Missouri, introduced bill S.1438 on June 26, 2017. At this point, renovations to the Arch had been underway for about 4 years. The timing of the bill debunks my theory about the renovations. The supposed coincidence was nothing more than a coincidence. There is a chance that the $380 million renovations spurred a long-overdue desire to rename the park (a remodel and a rebranding sounds like a solid business move for the park), but this is unclear.

The bill was simple. It was titled the “Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act.” In its final form, it read:

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial established under the Act of May 17, 1954 (16 U.S.C. 450jj et seq.), shall be known and designated as the “Gateway Arch National Park.”

S.1438, Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act

That’s it. The bill’s text provides no reasoning, background, or motivation. I couldn’t find record of any hearings, meetings, or statements that shed light on the bill’s inception.

In fairness, very few people called the park by its former name. I never heard someone say “Yeah, I’m visiting the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.” Everyone I ever met simply called the park “Gateway Arch” without mention of its formal name. So, it makes sense that Senator Blunt wanted to officially change the park’s name. The emphasis of the name change was on the “Gateway Arch” component, with the “National Park” component falling to the wayside. I doubt that Blunt – or most people in Congress – realized the implication of changing “National Memorial” to “National Park.”

The National Park Service’s Objection

The only evidence I could find of pushback to the name change came from then-acting deputy director of the National Park Service: Robert Vogel.

At a hearing before the Senate Energy and National Resources Subcommittee on National Parks – where S.1438 and several other park-related bills were discussed – Vogel issued a statement. In his statement, he made the very same argument that I made above about designating the Gateway Arch with a different NPS unit title. He said:

The Department of the Interior supports renaming the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial to highlight its iconic feature, the Gateway Arch. However, we recommend designating the site as a national monument, to be known as “Gateway Arch National Monument,” rather than a national park, in order to be more consistent with National Park Service naming conventions… At only 91 federal acres, we believe that the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is too small and limited in the range of resources the site protects and interprets to be called a national park.

Robert Vogel, Acting Deputy Director of the National Park Service (2017)

You can read his full statement here.

Evidently, most of the Senate overlooked his suggestion. After the hearing, the bill passed the Senate and House of Representatives in a matter of months without amendment.

Visit Indiana Dunes – another Midwest national park that had its designation changed

In the least controversial move of his presidency, President Donald Trump signed S.1438 into law on February 22, 2018. Therefore, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was no more. Gateway Arch National Park would live in infamy in its place. Yosemite, eat your heart out.

So, What’s the Big Deal?

In the grand scheme of things, naming the park “Gateway Arch National Park” has created little change for the park. Visitation numbers remain unaffected, the park is managed exactly how it was before 2018, and the park’s centerpiece still stands tall. National park enthusiasts who are stubborn about consistency – like me – are the only people the name change has affected.

As long as Gateway Arch doesn’t set a precedent for designations of future manmade parks, I can come to terms with its inclusion among the other national parks. Whenever I complete my journey to the national parks and rank all of them, however, I can assure you Gateway Arch will be at the bottom of the list. In fact, I’m sure anyone who publishes a ranking of America’s national parks will do the same.

What do you think? Does the Arch’s status as a national park frustrate you? Or is it a piece of trivia, and something that I’m wasting my time by writing about? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! In the meantime, keep an eye out for my next post about America’s national parks.

— Paul

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