In the nation’s smallest national park, a big push to preserve history

ST. LOUIS – Standing at 630 feet, the St. Louis Gateway Arch is the nation’s tallest monument – taller than both the National Monument in Washington, D.C., and the Statue of Liberty. The lanky structure holds another distinction, as it sits on the grounds of the country’s smallest national park.

But more than half a century since it was built, the Arch and the park grounds are getting some much needed upgrades in efforts to bring an important piece of American history into the modern age.

The project totals to $380 million, funded through a partnership between the National Park Service and the Gateway Arch Park Foundation called the CityArchRiver project. Started in 2010’s, the project has served as a community-based, resident-led effort to rejuvenate the park, said Pam Sanfilippo, program manager for museum services and interpretation at Gateway Arch National Park. It’s the largest public-private partnership in its history.

It included updates to the Arch grounds, new exhibits, more accessible facilities and a revamped courthouse, which is still under construction.

Ryan McClure, executive director of the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, said that $221 million of the total cost came from private funding. The remaining funding came from a mix of federal, state and local dollars.

Renovations to the park were split into two phases. The first phase included the monument itself and the grounds it stands on, and the second centered the museum, which details the history of St. Louis. Photo courtesy of Gateway Arch

“That tells you how much people in St. Louis care about this park,” he said.

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Renovations to the park were split into two phases. The first phase, which was completed in 2018, included the actual monument and the grounds it stands on, as well as the museum, which is focused on the history of St. Louis

A bridge was also built to connect the Arch to downtown; the site’s underground visitors’ center was expanded by 55,000 feet; and upgrades were made to a nearby city park and the part of the riverfront where the arch meets the water.

The new exhibits showcase everything from the founding of St. Louis in 1764 to the building of the arch which wouldn’t come for another 200 years later and all of it, as park leaders note, is showcased through new technology and a more interactive design.

“That whole idea of multiple perspectives and then telling those stories with the new technology that we have today that… kids connect to, whether it’s tactile things or videos or interactives, things that they can see and touch and do, which you don’t typically think of in a museum,” Sanfilippo said.

Ensuring an accurate and well-rounded story is told was the ultimate goal, McClure said.

“The former museum really focused on how the West was won, and obviously, that is not the full story. It’s about how the West was stolen from the indigenous groups that lived there first or the North was stolen…from the indigenous groups that lived in Mexico and so…it’s really about preserving history, but also ensuring that we are telling the entire history and elevating the stories and just doing it in the right way,” McClure told the NewsHour.

The museum’s exhibitions are now all contained to one level, which Sanfilippo highlighted as an effort to make it more accessible. Exhibits now include “captioning and audio descriptions for visually and hearing impaired people..”

“[It’s] very important to tell those stories … for all ages and abilities,” the St. Louis native said.

McClure said they worked with an universal design group to make sure they were using as many accessibility solutions as possible.

“Universal design was implemented here, which means that everyone, to the greatest extent possible, can experience the park in the same way,” he said.

From that planning came a new feature for those who cannot or do not want to take a tram up to the top of the Arch, where visitors usually go for views of the entire city and river. There’s now a replica of the observation deck where visitors view a live video feed, through actual window frames showing the view from the top.

Visitors can take a tram ride all the way to the top of the Arch where they can peer out of the window and view not just the Old Courthouse but the entire city. Photo courtesy of Gateway Arch

The second phase of the renovations began in February 2023 and are expected to conclude either spring or early summer in 2025. It includes the old courthouse, which in its original version was built in 1817.

The steps of the version of the building that stands today is one of the places in St. Louis where enslaved Black Americans were sold, robbing them of their freedom and humanity.

It underwent several renovations and updates over the years but struggled to keep up with the city’s population, and closed for good in 1930.

Along with building updates, new exhibits will be open to the public about the courthouse’s history — including 300 freedom suits filed there, the most famous of which, from Dred and Harriet Scott, made it to the Supreme Court. A statue of the couple stands right outside the building, a reminder of their courage and a system that failed them and many, many others. A memorial dedicated to those who sued for their freedom in the freedom suits now sits just yards from the old courthouse.

Exhibits will focus on the architecture and art of the building, and “the role of courts in our system, in our democracy today,” Sanfilippo said. A “Pathways to Freedom” feature will aim to tell the stories of the Scotts through their own eyes.

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Parts will also briefly touch on the Virginia Minor case, argued in the Old Courthouse in 1872. Minor, an officer in the National Woman Suffrage Association, challenged voting restrictions in the United States after she was denied a vote in a city election. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled two years later that “the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon anyone,” because suffrage was not coexistent with citizenship.

For park leaders and community partners, the new renovations are an opportunity to keep the history of the park and St. Louis alive and well.

“This monument represents something related to our nation’s past and to life today… that story of perseverance and courage, people moving west to unknown territory, to the indigenous people who were here before that, and to the story of strength and courage that people like Dred and Harriet Scott had in order to seek freedom. I think those stories are ones that I hope once people do visit,” Sanfilippo said.