Day 8, St Louis, September 24, 2022
St Louis, September 24, 2022
St. Louis is the second-largest city in Missouri. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which extends into Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second-largest in Illinois, and the 20th-largest in the United States.
Before European settlement, the
area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. St. Louis was founded on
February 14, 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre
Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, who named it for Louis IX of France. In 1764, following France's
defeat in the Seven
Years' War, the area was ceded to Spain. In 1800, it was retroceded to France,
which sold it three years later to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase; the
city was then the point of embarkation for the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In the
19th century, St. Louis became a major port on the Mississippi River;
from 1870 until the 1920 census, it was
the fourth-largest city in the country. It separated from St. Louis County in
1877, becoming an independent city and
limiting its political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and
the Summer Olympics.
Additional information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-tall monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider it the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States and officially dedicated to "the American people," the Arch, commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the West," is a National Historic Landmark in Gateway Arch National Park and has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, as well as a popular tourist destination.
The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947; construction began on February 12, 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965, at an overall cost of $13 million (equivalent to $83 million in 2018). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967. It is located at the site of the founding of St. Louis on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
Additional info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Arch
Working to raise handrails on our "plank" to shore (no dock)
I-64 crossing river from Illinois
We departed St Louis at 6 PM; we will arrive Memphis at 9 AM day after tomorrow (Day 10)
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