The Gateway Arch National Park and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
The Gateway Arch symbolizes westward expansion, while Cahokia Mounds preserves a major pre-Columbian Native city. 1078
The Gateway Arch National Park: St. Louis, MO 63102
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site: 30 Ramey St, Collinsville, IL 62234
Date Picture Taken: June 2025
St. Louis is a historic Mississippi River city known for the Gateway Arch, rich blues and barbecue culture, elegant old neighborhoods, and significant roles in westward expansion and American immigration.
Old Courthouse
Gateway Arch National Park centers on the 630-foot stainless steel arch overlooking the Mississippi River, offering museum exhibits on westward expansion, tram rides to a sky-high viewing chamber, and landscaped grounds connecting to historic Old Courthouse sites.
The building in front of the Arch houses the Arch museum and the tram station for the tram to the top.
The tram station
Waiting in front of the tram entrance
Only five people can sit in each tram car.
At the Arch’s summit, the observation windows provide dramatic downward views.
The Old Courthouse
The other side is the Mississippi River
Waiting for the tram that go back down.
The shape of the top observation area in the Arch
A model of the tram car
The museum beneath the Gateway Arch presents interactive exhibits on America’s westward expansion, exploring Native cultures, frontier life, immigration, river trade, and the impact of technology and conflict, all arranged along a curving path that mirrors the historical timeline leading to St. Louis’s role as the “Gateway to the West.”
I left the museum and headed over for a closer look at the Arch.
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot stainless steel monument built between 1963 and 1965 to commemorate America’s westward expansion, designed by architect Eero Saarinen as a perfect weighted catenary curve that balances elegance and engineering strength. Its two legs contain narrow tram shafts that carry visitors to a small observation chamber at the top, where angled windows provide sweeping views of the Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis. Clad in triangular stainless-steel panels over a carbon-steel structure, the Arch reflects changing light throughout the day and creates dramatic perspectives when viewed up close from the landscaped grounds of Gateway Arch National Park.
The next day, I went to see Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site preserves the remains of the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico, featuring massive earthen mounds—including the towering Monk’s Mound—built by Mississippian peoples around 1050–1350 CE, with exhibits and trails that reveal their complex urban planning, trade networks, astronomy, and ceremonial life.
Monk’s Mound
Walking up the stairs
Second set of stairs
At the top of the mound
Came back to the front side of the mound
