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Everything You Need to Know about the Gateway Arch and Museum!

The wait is finally over! After five long years, construction workers have packed up their gear. The massive overhaul of the Gateway Arch entrance, grounds and museum IS DONE! Whooo-hoo!New Arch Entrance and Museum

They’ve been talking about re-connecting the Arch grounds to the rest of downtown as far back as 2005. Remember what it looked like BEFORE the “big lid?” (And yes, I said re-connect. Eero Saarinen designed the Arch before Hwy 70 sliced through downtown.)

before Arch construction

Remember watching confused tourists try to walk to the Arch from downtown? Well now its easy! Thanks to the CityArchRiver project, St. Louis’ front yard is a spectacular play space.Building a model arch

The Gateway Arch 2.0

I was lucky enough to attend a media sneak peek, so now I can tell you what to expect next time you visit the Gateway Arch.

Oh, and here’s a link to the FREE Gateway Arch Park app! It will tell you when the Arch is open, help you find parking, get your tickets and more.

Gateway Arch Park App from Apple

Gateway Arch Park App from Google Play

 

 

 

New Gateway Arch Entrance

The biggest change to the Arch is the entrance. They moved it. The Arch now has a big hobbit hole entrance on the west side of the park grounds, facing the Old Courthouse.new gateway arch entrance

The old north and south entrances at the legs of the Arch are now exit only. So if you want to take a picture while standing up against the stainless steel legs of the Arch, save it for the end of your visit.

Parking

The other major change happened in 2015 when they demolished the Arch grounds parking lot and turned it into a grassy park area. Now don’t panic! I measured this out on Google Maps–the distance from the old garage to the north entrance is the same as the distance from the East Stadium Garage to the new west entrance. The Gateway Arch Park Foundation did a survey and found an average of 2600 empty parking spaces within a 5 minute walk to the Arch on an average day.

Now that figure gets thrown out the window when the Cardinals are playing a home game, so my Number One advice to NOT visit the Arch on game days. Unless you’re going to the game too, then you’re cool. Nearby parking is gobbled up by Cardinal fans, and the garages raise their rates on game day.

Wheelchair and Stroller Friendly

The new redesign also makes getting to the Gateway Arch entrance wheelchair and stroller friendly. There are literally no steps between the East parking garage and the Arch! Seriously. They put curb cuts on all the sidewalks leading from downtown parking to the Arch, plus there are ramps leading down to the new entrance and inside the new museum and lobby. There’s even a loading zone on Market Street (near the KMOV building) so you can drop off visitors who want to shorten their walk.

New Arch Entrance and Museum

Sadly, they couldn’t make the tram ride to the top handicap accessible. We’re kinda stuck with the system as it was designed in the 1960’s. But they added a replica of the Arch’s “keystone” to the lobby area. So if you’re visiting with a guest who can’t make the tram ride, or you’re feeling a little dicey about riding up in the cars, or you just want to see what you’re getting into…you can get a virtual experience right on ground level.New Arch Museum top of the Arch mockup

Mitch and I visited a few weeks before the museum was complete, so the display still had caution tape on it. But when you visit, you can walk right in! It’s a pretty good replica that replaces the windows with monitors showing a recording from the actual windows 630 feet up. The window glass is from the actual Arch (they have to be replaced from time to time) and the light on top is the original light from the ’60s!

Ticket Counters and Security

Adding a proper lobby is one of the best things the remodel gave us! Besides being stunningly beautiful, the new lobby is big enough to hold a good number of visitors INDOORS before you enter security. Yes, we still need to go through an airport style security zone (it’s a federal monument after all) but now you can wait in comfort. There’s also a restroom you can visit before standing in line–great news for families!

New Arch Entrance and Museum

You’ll buy your tram tickets and movie tickets in the lobby. You’ll also have a chance to buy Riverboat Cruise tickets here if you like. Of course, you can also buy your tickets online! Tickets are timed, so plan accordingly.

New Peak Pricing

The Arch now has “peak pricing.” That means you can save money if you visit during slow times of the year. Obviously this is going to be easier for locals, since we can arrange to visit on a weekday in the spring…but if you’re planning a summer visit you’ll miss out on the discount pricing.

Here’s a sample pricing chart for May 2019, right at the start of summer vacation. You can see a month like May has both “value” pricing days, days with kid discounts and the more expensive peak pricing.

peak pricing gateway arch

New Gateway Arch MuseumNew Arch Entrance and Museum

The new museum is really exciting for families! It’s still telling the history of St. Louis and an updated story about America’s Westward Expansion. But now every single display has something kids can touch and play with to add to their learning.arch museum

Psst: The Arch museum is one of SEVEN family-friendly “children’s” museums in St. Louis. What to know what the other six are? Click here!

Some of the highlights in the new Arch Museum:

French colonial house:

  • Full-sized, vertical log house for visitors to experience life as a St. Louisan in the 1700s
  • Constructed as authentically as possible (without modern machinery) by the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center, based out of Frederick, Md.
  • Two sides of the house are complete, while two sides are incomplete so visitors can view building details
  • Featured in the “Colonial St. Louis” exhibit gallery.

Riverfront levee model:

  • 5-block scale model of what the downtown St. Louis Mississippi riverfront looked like in 1852 with a diorama depicting buildings, people, livestock, cargo and steamboats.
  • The model shows how busy the riverfront was during that time.
  • Featured in the “Riverfront Era” exhibit gallery.

Old Rock House:

  • Replica of the historic riverfront building that was demolished for the construction of the Arch.
  • Features stones from the original building that were saved during demolition.
  • Featured in the “Riverfront Era” exhibit gallery.

gateway arch

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