Gateway Arch National Park guide · 2 min read
Museum at the Gateway Arch: Westward Expansion History
The museum sits in the underground visitor center beneath the Arch, entered through a circular entryway facing the Old Courthouse.
Its six exhibit galleries focus on St. Louis and its role in the nation's westward move, along with the people that movement touched, past and present. The displays also explain how the Arch itself came to be, always from a St. Louis perspective.
The museum frames St. Louis as the gateway to the West and asks which people pushed beyond the city and whom they met on the road. The people at the center of these accounts include fur traders and overlanders, along with explorers and American Indians. Its stories span more than two centuries of events and the mix of cultures that shaped the region. Guests are asked to weigh different viewpoints, and many of these stories have seldom been told.
Visitors can follow the galleries in chronological order, starting with Colonial St. Louis, which is on the right side of the walkway once you have passed the giant screens. Others prefer to wander and stop wherever something draws their attention. Each gallery has interactive features for younger visitors, and touch stations let people with low or no vision handle a representation of a key artifact. Park rangers stationed in the museum answer questions and point visitors to exhibits.
The land where the Arch now stands was once part of a thriving riverport. Travelers came to restock supplies ahead of a demanding trek of six to seven months across the continent. In the Riverfront Era gallery, murals, a finely detailed model, and a reconstructed storefront bring the historic levee scene back into view.
Tucker Theater, also inside the visitor center, seats about 285 people and screens a documentary on the Arch's construction. The center also has an information desk, a museum store, and a cafe.
