Explorations of the Gateway to the West.
On the Mississippi River lies the great city of St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded by the French, ruled by the Spanish and later grew into a large all American city.
Not much remains of that original French settlement, founded back in 1764 under Spanish rule. Over the last few centuries, many important events have happened here. St. Louis was attacked during the Revolutionary war by British forces, even though it technically belonged to Spain at the time. It was sold as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. St. Louis saw the departure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804. The Civil War was not kind to this Southern city. In 1874, the first bridge in the MidWest was constructed over the Mississippi River. (The bridge still stands today.) And in 1904, the city hosted a giant World’s Fair, with structures remaining to this day.
Today, St. Louis has skyscrapers, museums, public transportation (if you can call it that) and, of course, that giant arch that everyone has heard about.
Let’s start with that arch. The 630 ft. (192 m) Gateway Arch was built as monument to the westward expansion of the United States. It is now part of the new Gateway Arch National Park (the former Jefferson National Expansion Memorial). In front of the arch is my favorite building, the Old Courthouse.
The Old Courthouse was built in 1828, but the dome wasn’t added until the Civil War. Fun Fact: the courthouse was Missouri’s tallest habitable building from 1864-1894.
The inside of the dome is awesome.
The first floor has been drastically changed. It now houses exhibits I believe. They were still doing the remodel at the Arch when I last visited, so things may have changed since then. Upstairs you find the old, restored courthouse rooms. Everything is very patriotic.
A courtroom with a very fancy ceiling.
Because of the construction around the Arch, we couldn’t walk directly there from the Old Courthouse. The round-about way took us to the Old Cathedral.
Formally the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France was the first cathedral west of the Mississippi River. We will visit the new cathedral later.
Due to construction on the grounds of the park, this is the best close up I have ever gotten of the Arch. That construction is all done now and apparently everything is all nice.
You can take a tram to the top of the Arch. From the top, you can get some good views of the city.
Moving on from the Arch, let’s explore a bit of the downtown. I made a bunch of visits to St. Louis over the course of a year. St. Louis is much like any other American city, with beautiful skyscrapers like this white one and some ugly ones like the reddish one.
That building features a really awesome clock.
And look at that detail! I love the lion’s head.
A building nearby has this really cool entrance way.
The Wainwright Building (1891) was an important early skyscraper. It’s covered in terra cotta tiles. So cool!
The Citygarden Sculpture Park with the awesome 22nd Judicial Circuit Building in the back.
I can’t get over how much I love this building. Probably, because it reminds me of New York City.
The building is awesome. The details are painted on the building.
I love that sign and that building.
Heading a little further out is the St. Louis Union Station, now hotel and shopping mall. Cool reuse of a train station that is no longer active except for some metro trains.
The St. Louis Public Library was built in 1912, a grand time for giant libraries. It was built with money donated by Andrew Carnegie.
A really great time for libraries.
The area around the University of St. Louis is also fun to explore. The Fox Theatre is just spectacular.
St. Francis Xavier College Church.
I love the blue hue that the stained-glass windows give off in this church.
Even further out is Forest Park, the site of the 1904 World’s Fair. You can still see remnants of the fairgrounds around the park, like this pool.
One of the buildings that survive is the St. Louis Art Museum, which is a fantastic museum, especially for the Mid-West.
Last but not least, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the one that replaced the Old Cathedral. It was completed in 1914 and is absolutely amazing. One of my all-time favorite churches.
Every inch of the ceiling is covered in mosaics! Look at that red dome!
The first dome. The mosaics feature priests and other events from St. Louis’ history.
The altar is awesome!
Even the side chapels are amazing.
This is my favorite one.
This one is super fancy.
I have barely scratched the surface of my St. Louis wanderings. The Gateway Arch isn’t the only attraction in town. There is much more to Forest Park, a ton of free museums and even a free zoo. Other attractions abound in the hinterland, like Ulysses S, Grant National Historic Site, Cahokia Mounds and Bellefontaine Cemetery. Also, not that far south is Ste. Genevieve where you can still see the French colonial past of the area.
Check out my St. Louis travel guide!
