1965 Gateway Arch completed
The Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-tall parabolic arch made of steel, is completed as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri. The arch, designed by Finnish-born U.S. architect Eero Saarinen, was erected to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate St. Louis' central role in the subsequent westward expansion of America.