Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A must see if you visit St. Louis



I don't drive into downtown St. Louis daily, but I do get down there about once a week or so, but I never tire of this view.   The St. Louis Gateway Arch is an amazing piece of art and architecture.  

If you've never visited this amazing feat of construction, here's some interesting facts about it.

Did you know?
The arch is 63 stories tall
Its foundation is about 60 feet deep
It weighs 17,246 tons
It's made out of steel and concrete
There are 142 steel sections
The top is 17 feet wide
There are 16 windows at the top of the arch.  Each one is only 7 inches by 27 inches because over 500 pounds of pressure was required to jack the north and south legs apart to place the last four foot section into the peak of the arch.  Larger windows couldn't have withstood the pressure.
The project began in 1963
The last piece of the arch structure was put into place Oct. 28, 1965
The North leg was comleted first and opened in July 1967, the south leg opened in May 1968
Under the arch is a visitor's center where guests can pay to ride to the top of the arch


No comments:

Post a Comment