BGuthrie Photos: MO -- St. Louis -- Gateway Arch -- Museum of Westward Expansion

MO -- St. Louis -- Gateway Arch -- Museum of Westward Expansion:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MWX_081009_027.JPG: The Idea: St. Louis lawyer Luther Ely Smith, appalled at the dilapidated St. Louis riverfront district, decided that a memorial to the westward expansion of the United States should be built here. St. Louis Mayor Bernard Dickmann liked Smith's idea and was able to persuade President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim Jefferson national Expansion Memorial on December 21, 1935. Between 1939 and 1942, all the buildings in a 40 block area were torn down for the memorial. World War II brought the project to a halt, but in 1947-48 an architectural competition was held. A total of 172 entries were evaluated by a jury of seven architects who chose a beautiful stainless steel arch designed by Eero Saarinen. Although Luther Ely Smith died in 1951, the campaign to build the memorial continued. Congresswoman Leonor K. Sullivan obtained much of the necessary funding from Congress. By 1957, Eero Saarinen began redesigning the Arch project. Backed by memorial Superintendent George Hartzog, Saarinen placed surface structures in an underground complex. Meanwhile, Mayor Raymond Tucker, a trained engineer, settled a dispute with the railroads over an unsightly riverfront trestle. Using Tucker's tunnel design, the great Arch was finally read to rise from the river.
2. MWX_081009_030.JPG: The Architect: "To the question, what is the purpose of the architecture, I would answer: To shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of existence." -- Eero Saarinen, December 1, 1959 Eero Saarinen was born August 20, 1910, in Helsinki, Finland. He remembered that "it never occurred to me to do anything but follow in my father's footsteps and become an architect." Eero's father, Eliel, brought the family to the United States in 1924 and became the first President of the Cranbrook Institute in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Saarinen studied at Cranbrook and the Yale School of Architecture, later taking a leading role in his father's architectural firm. The Jefferson National Expansion competition in 1947-48 gave Eero a start on a solo career at age 38. Saarinen went on to design the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan (1948-56), the TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport in New York (1958-62), the John Deere Headquarters in Moline, Illinois (1957-63), the US Chancellery Building in London, England (1955-60), and Dulles Airport outside Washington DC (1958-62), among many other brilliant works. Saarinen was putting the finishing touches on the Arch project when he died of cancer on September 1, 1961.
3. MWX_081009_033.JPG: The Realization: The Gateway Arch was a deceptively simple design which later presented several difficult problems. As Eero Saarinen readied the Arch project, he had to settle on a shape and height appropriate to the memorial site and its surroundings. After long months of trial and error, a weighted catenary curve was chosen. The Arch would stand 630 feet tall, its triangular stainless steel sections tapering from 54 feet on each side of the base to 17 feet at the top. Saarinen's design could not have been built without the theoretical mathematics of engineer Hannskarl Bandel. Meanwhile, Saarinen worked with landscape architect Dan Kiley to create the graceful curves of the shaded walks and grounds with trees, meadows and ponds. Since conventional elevators could not negotiate the curves of the Arch to the observation platform at the top, inventor Richard Bowser was asked to create the unique Arch Transportation System. Just as most of the design problems were solved, Eero Saarinen died suddenly at age 51, his partner John Dinkeloo oversaw construction. St. Louis contractor Robert MacDonald won the bid to build the Arch, and PIttsburgh-Des Moines Steel was hired to erect it. The Arch was completed on October 28, 1965, a tribute to the many people who made the dream a reality.
4. MWX_081009_050.JPG: Eero Saarinen is in the center. Left to right around him: Leonor Sullivan Raymond Tucker George Hartzog Bernard Dickmann Luther Ely Smith (right side top left to lower right ) John Dinkeloo Dan Kiley Richard Bowser Robert MacDonald Hannskarl Bandel
5. MWX_081009_059.JPG: Mathew Brady in the lower left
6. MWX_081009_063.JPG: Edward Curtis
7. MWX_081009_068.JPG: Solomon Butcher
8. MWX_081009_073.JPG: Left to right: Eliza Withington Timothy O'Sullivan Alexander Gardner
9. MWX_081009_075.JPG: Left to right: Eliza Withington Timothy O'Sullivan Alexander Gardner Eadweard Muybridge Carleton E Watkins James Ball Evelyn Cameron
10. MWX_081009_080.JPG: IMAX projectors
11. MWX_081009_087.JPG: Andrew Russell
12. MWX_081009_090.JPG: John Hillers and William H. Jackson.
13. MWX_081009_139.JPG: All of the stuffed animals in this museum have signs saying: Please do NOT touch. Only live animals can grow new hair.
14. MWX_081009_271.JPG: Various characters in the display are animatronics. Charles Barber Chief Engraver, US Mint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1896 "My father brought me this trade as his father taught him. I use many of their tools as I carve the dies that stamp out silver medals,. Our craft has not changed much, but our medals have. Compare symbols on this medal to those of the past... What do they tell you? A century ago, we awarded these medals to Indians when we signed treaties with them. Now that the frontier has been settled, treaties are a thing of the past, and we give these medals as 'rewards' to the Indian farmer."
15. MWX_081009_288.JPG: Early in the 1890s, the Ghost Dance religion offered hope to demoralized Indian nations. Wovoka, a Paiute medicine man, said that the ritual of the dance would restore the old ways of the Indian people. Dead ancestors would return. Game would be plentiful. And the white man would disappear. The fervor of the Ghost Dancers alarmed government agents. Months of tension ended in violence on December 29, 1890, when the Seventh Cavalry arrived at Wounded Knee. Not only scores of Lakota, but also "a beautiful dream... died in the snow" that day, said Ben Black Elk. It was a dream of recovering all that had been lost in the cultural collision with Euro-Americans. There have been some gains for American Indians since Wounded Knee. Indians have been able to maintain their tribal identify while gaining the rights of American citizens. Legal actions have enforced old treaties, and education has made all Americans more aware of native traditions. Serious problems remain, including poverty and discrimination. And the challenges of interracial relations continue to raise important questions. Can minorities preserve their traditions and still be included in a larger culture? Are we more tolerant of one another's differences today than in the time of the peace medals? What can we learn from these past events to improve our world today? Perhaps by exploring these questions, we can continue to discover the true strength of America, and ourselves. William Henry Harrison Medal: President Harrison never had a medal made; he caught pneumonia at his inauguration and died after only thirty days in office. In the 1880s, when the presidential medals were reissued for collectors, a Harrison medal was added to the series.
16. MWX_081009_293.JPG: John Adams Medal: No medal was mined during John Adams' term. A commemorative medal was designed in 1846 but never produced, and the die was lost. In 1878, the missing die surfaced at a coin collector's estate sale. Like the Harrison medal, it was struck in bronze for collectors. These collector's versions marked a new era for the peace medal. What had once been an important diplomatic tool affecting international and Indian relations was reduced to a valuable keepsake.
17. MWX_081009_298.JPG: George Washington Medal: This Washington medal, which first appeared about 1870, illustrates nineteenth-century efforts to exploit the increasing popularity of peace medals among collectors. Unlike the medals which the government issued, these were cast, instead of being struck in a coining press. Pouring silver or aluminum into a hinged metal mold did not require expensive equipment, making it easy for a forger to set up shop. Some of these medals were sold to American Indians, and others to collectors.
18. MWX_081009_303.JPG: Rutherford B. Hayes Medal: By the 1870s, confinement on reservations replaced diplomacy as the cornerstone of Indian policy. As a result, peace medals were less meaningful and fewer were made. Behind the Indian and pioneer farmer on the medal are plowed fields, a log home, and a mother with her baby -- symbols of a "civilized" domestic life that many Euro-Americans hoped the Indians would embrace.
19. MWX_081009_308.JPG: "We were told they merely wished to pass through our country," said the Lakota leader Red Cloud, "Yet before the ashes of the council fire are cold, the Great Father is building his forts among us... I am for war." In 1866, the US Army built forts on Lakota lands, violating the 1851 treaty. Red Cloud fought the army successfully and negotiated warily; like other Indian leaders, he no longer trusted treaties. A congressional committee questioned the value of treaties as well. Signing treaties recognized the sovereignty of Indian nations, and many people believed the Indians should assimilate into the Euro-American culture instead. In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law prohibiting any new Indian treaties. Many Indians resisted assimilation, however. "If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man," said the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, "he would have made me so in the first place." Confining Indians to reservations often required military intervention, with heavy Indian casualties. Ironically, the Indians' greatest victory, the Battle of Little Bighorn, provoked retaliation from the East, and soon few Indians remained free on the plains. "On Earth Peace Good Will Toward Men" Ulysses S. Grant Medal: President Grant followed the suggestions of reformers, who advocated a more considerate and humane approach to Indian policy. Both sides of the Grant medal were so cluttered with images of peace (the Bible, a peace pipe, and olive branch) and agriculture (shovels, plows, rakes) that there was no room left for the president's name. Despite good intentions, the years of Grant's "peace policy" were some of the most violent of any president, as Indians resisted confinement on reservations.
20. MWX_081009_312.JPG: Andrew Johnson Medal: Images on the reverse of the Johnson medal once again compared Indian and Euro-American cultures. Examples of each culture's technology were featured in the foreground. Behind these were symbols of the two radically different economies -- buffalo hunting on one side and the railroad on the other. Peace medals were no longer symbols of a covenant, but instead were awarded to Indians who exemplified the goal of assimilation.
21. MWX_081009_317.JPG: Andrew Johnson Medal: Images on the reverse of the Johnson medal once again compared Indian and Euro-American cultures. Examples of each culture's technology were featured in the foreground. Behind these were symbols of the two radically different economies -- buffalo hunting on one side and the railroad on the other. Peace medals were no longer symbols of a covenant, but instead were awarded to Indians who exemplified the goal of assimilation.
22. MWX_081009_322.JPG: Chester Arthur Medal: The Arthur medals, engraved by Charles Barber in 1884,were first struck in bronze for collectors. Only later did the Bureau of Indian Affairs order ten medals to award to Indians, reflecting the diminished value of the medal as trans-cultural symbol. The distribution of medals to Indians was no longer limited to hose given as gifts by the government; Indians could request and purchase medals themselves.
23. MWX_081009_325.JPG: Concern over the violence of the "Peace Policy" years prompted further Indian policy revisions. Reformed challenged the belief that Indians were naturally inferior to Euro-Americans. American Indians, they argued, only lacked education and suffered poor treatment from government agents. While the accepting the Indians as an equal race, the reformers intensified the campaign to eliminate Indian culture. The Bureau of Indian Affairs banned Indian languages and ceremonies on reservations. Assimilation was encouraged by establishing new boarding schools, where students were isolated from their families and forced to adopt the dress, manners, and language of the Euro-Americans. Colonel Richard Pratt, founded of the Carlisle School, declared that his intention was to "kill the Indian and save the man". The General Allotment Act of 1887 privatized Indian lands, granting up to 160 acres to each family. Reformers hoped that the new law would sever tribal ties and promote individual farms, but it also took away huge tracts of Indian land. After forty-seven million acres were awarded to Indian families, the remaining ninety million acres were sold to Euro-Americans. Benjamin Harrison Medal: In 1890, medal requests from members of the Oto and Missouri tribes prompted Thomas Morgan, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to design the final peace medal. Most of these were given to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who gave up their lands in Oklahoma. The last request for medals came in 1896, from the Harvard Anthropology Museum. A curator presented them to two elderly Omahas who had provided information on their tribal ceremonies and history.
24. MWX_081009_329.JPG: As plans for a transcontinental railroad gathered momentum, US lawmakers pushed to annex territory on the Great Plains. With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, eleven tribes in Kansas and three in Nebraska ceded seventeen million acres to the government. Additional laws enacted in 1862 further impacted the plains. The Homestead Act, which granted 160 acres to anyone willing to farm it, attracted hordes of settlers. The Pacific Railroad Grant made more land available to link the Pacific coast with the Union. Prospects for the railroad encouraged cattlemen, who ran increasing numbers of longhorns across prairie grasslands. Perhaps more than any other factor, violations led to conflict during this period. Indian leaders who signed treaties did not necessarily speak for the many small bands roaming the plains. Language barriers led to misunderstandings. And the US government increasingly violated its own agreements. "You gave us presents and they you take our land," said Buffalo Chief, a Cheyenne. "That produces war." Abraham Lincoln Medal: President Lincoln's medal bore the last of four presidential portraits carved by artist Salathiel Ellis. After only one hundred medals had been produced, the die broke. A replacement was made, altering several small details. Earlier criticisms of the reverse side showing the Indian in headdress and scalping scene had apparently been forgotten, because the images remained. During this period, violence continued to plague the frontier. Treaty violations and military efforts to confine Indians to reservations were usually the cause.
25. MWX_081009_337.JPG: James Buchanan Medal: Intended to promote "civilization" over "savagery", the reverse of the Buchanan medals were highly controversial. The President and the Secretary of the Interior criticized the appearance of the Indian farmer on the medal: why was an assimilated Indian wearing a headdress? Indians objected to the scalping scene on the outer ring, which portrayed Indians as violent and "uncivilized." Despite the objections and criticism, the die was completed and could not be changed.
26. MWX_081009_343.JPG: James Buchanan Medal: Intended to promote "civilization" over "savagery", the reverse of the Buchanan medals were highly controversial. The President and the Secretary of the Interior criticized the appearance of the Indian farmer on the medal: why was an assimilated Indian wearing a headdress? Indians objected to the scalping scene on the outer ring, which portrayed Indians as violent and "uncivilized." Despite the objections and criticism, the die was completed and could not be changed.
27. MWX_081009_346.JPG: With thousands of emigrants crossing the prairies on their way to California in 1849, hopeful visions of the West as an Indian refuge disappeared along with the buffalo. As goldseekers crowded into the Sierra Nevada foothills, Indian groups, dependent on fishing, hunting, and gathering, saw their lands quickly overrun and exhausted. In 1851, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs set aside 12,000 square miles of government land in California as reserves. Indians were invited to settle and farm, and promised five years' worth of rations. This early experiment with the "reservation" idea ultimately failed. Gold-hungry immigrants trespassed on Indian land, and government agents cheated Indians of supplies and money. On the Great Plains, Thomas Fitzpatrick, a respected trapper and guide, led the first "big talks" with Indian leaders at Fort Laramie in 1851. To resolve disputes over hunting grounds and maintain safe travel routes for emigrants, Fitzpatrick convinced tribal leaders to agree to territorial boundaries. The resulting treaty was not intended to confine and "civilize" the Indians as was the California plan, but it was a step in the same direction. Franklin Pierce Medal: The land treated negotiated under President Pierce ushered in a period of unsuccessful diplomacy and great bitterness. During this period, the United States acquired 174 million acres of Indian lands as the result of fifty-two different treaties. Most of these treaties provided the Indians with rations, money, or hunting rights, but these clauses were often ignored. Such betrayals seriously hurt diplomacy and lessened the value of the peace medal as a symbol of trust.
28. MWX_081009_350.JPG: "Labor Virtue Honor" Millard Fillmore Medal: The new reverse of the Fillmore medal replaced the clasped hands, which had been used for 40 years, with symbols such as the plow and the axe, reflecting the government's increasing efforts to educate, "civilize," and Christianize the Indian. With little land left to "remove" Indians to, government agents believed that reservations should be established to protect American Indians and teach them to adopt the Euro-American culture.
29. MWX_081009_353.JPG: Millard Fillmore Medal: The new reverse of the Fillmore medal replaced the clasped hands, which had been used for 40 years, with symbols such as the plow and the axe, reflecting the government's increasing efforts to educate, "civilize," and Christianize the Indian. With little land left to "remove" Indians to, government agents believed that reservations should be established to protect American Indians and teach them to adopt the Euro-American culture.
30. MWX_081009_357.JPG: By the 1840s, even western Indian nations were feeling the influences of Euro-American immigrants. Descendants of stray and stolen Spanish horses were scattered throughout the Great Plains, and French traders were supplying guns. Together, guns and horses helped the Plains Indians hunt buffalo more effectively, and their economies relied increasingly on this animal. For a time, Plains Indians were able to adopt useful aspects of the new culture without giving up their own. In the 1840s, however, more and more settlers arrived. The acquisition of the Oregon Territory from Great Britain and the conquest of the Mexican Southwest added more wagon traffic across the prairies. In 1846, the Lakota Sioux petitioned President Polk, explaining that due to the swarm of emigrants, "Buffalo have in great measure left our hunting grounds, thereby causing us to go into the country of our enemies to hunt." The Lakota plea for help brought little response. As gold was discovered in California and buffalo herds dwindled, nations and individuals raced to expand their territories and claim larger shared of the West's limited resources. Zachary Taylor Medal: During the production of the Taylor medal, one of the dies broke. The portrait lathe proved its worth, as a replacement was made without having to rehire the artist.. Throughout the 1840s, peace medals began to attract interest among Euro-American collectors as a portrait gallery of the American presidents, and they began to purchase them from the US Mint in Philadelphia.
31. MWX_081009_360.JPG: James Polk Medal: Relatively peaceful relations with American Indians and the British during the Tyler and Pol administrations lessened the demand for peace medals. Only 34 medals were given out during the Polk presidency, so most of the mint's production was later melted down to make subsequent medals.
32. MWX_081009_363.JPG: John Tyler Medal: The Tyler medal was the first to use the new technology of the portrait lathe. Instead of carving the stamping die directly, artist Ferdinand Pettrich sculpted a larger-than-life prototype. The cutting tip of the lathe, connected by levers to a tracing arm that followed the contours of the prototype, carved out the final stamping die. Using this machine, an artist could make many different-sized dies from one original portrait, instead of carving a new portrait for each.
33. MWX_081009_367.JPG: "Peace and Friendship"
34. MWX_081009_371.JPG: John Tyler medal (another version)
35. MWX_081009_373.JPG: Diplomacy and warfare had failed eastern Indian nations. What alternatives remained? The Cherokee chose to adapt to the new culture by adopting European agriculture and welcoming mission schools. By 1828, the Cherokee were publishing their own newspaper and had created a constitutional government. Despite widespread respect for Cherokee achievements, settlers wanted their lands. In 1830, overriding vigorous opposition, President Andrew Jackson signed a law ordering the removal of the Cherokee to an "Indian Territory" in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee won an important decision in the US Supreme Court, but Jackson refused to honor their legal status as a sovereign nation. In 1837 and 1838, the US Army marched the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations to the Indian Territory. Thousands of Indians died on this "Trail of Tears." Why had many Euro-Americans sympathetic to the Indian cause supported Jackson's policy of removal? The arid West, they thought, would never be heavily settled. Perhaps there, Indian nations could live beyond the reach of oppression. Martin Van Buren Medal: The Van Buren medal was Mortiz Furst's final design. While President Van Buren sat for his portrait, the artist sculpted a die for the middle-sized medal. The die was copied to create the other sizes, which is why there are minor variations in the medals; for example, the largest size shows the president wearing a cape.
36. MWX_081009_380.JPG: Martin Van Buren medal (another design)
37. MWX_081009_387.JPG: Andrew Jackson Medal: Peace medal presentations were a common part of treaty-signing ceremonies. At times, government agents used peace medals to strengthen the power of Indian leaders who supported the United States' goals. East of the Mississippi, for example, Andrew Jackson peace medals were used to appoint Indian leaders willing to accept and promote the president's removal policy.
38. MWX_081009_391.JPG: Lewis and Clark, with the help of a Shoshoni woman named Sacagawea, were able to claim some diplomatic success upon their return in 1806. But diplomacy worked best when each culture occupied distinct territory. East to the Mississippi, such boundaries had disappeared. Between 1800 and 1810, for example, American Indian leaders signed fifteen treaties yielding most of present-day Indiana and Illinois, and parts of Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, for about a penny an acre. Nevertheless, settlers continued to invade Indian lands. In 1809, the Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tendsdwatawa (called "the Prophet") urged Indians throughout the country to reassert their traditional culture, and to take up arms against the United States. Tecumseh joined the British during the War of 1812, leading forces against US forts until he was killed near Detroit. Further south, the Creeks resisted encroaching settlers in Georgia and Alabama until General Andrew Jackson's army defeated them in 1814. East of the Mississippi, the era of Indian resistance appeared to be over. John Quincy Adams Medal: In addition to their diplomatic importance, peace medals constitute a portrait gallery of the American presidents. A medal engraver did not simply copy an image of the president, but instead carved an original portrait. President Adams was displeased with his likeness as engraved by artist Mortiz Furst. Unhappy even after several revisions, Adams declared Furst "a wretched medalist and a half-witted man."
39. MWX_081009_395.JPG: James Monroe Medal: Thomas McKenney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs under Monroe, ordered three sizes of medals to be awarded according to the status of the recipient. "Such is the nature of the medal business as to make one size almost useless without the others," he wrote. The largest medals were only to be presented to "Chiefs of the highest distinction." Smaller medals were given to others who demonstrated their value or friendship.
40. MWX_081009_397.JPG: James Madison Medal: The hollow Jefferson medal was not well-received among American Indians, since it was lighter than British medals. Therefore, the James Madison medals were struck from solid silver, using newly-acquired stamping presses at the US Mint. The presses squeezed soft silver slabs between dies, or molds, to create finished medals. Suspicions that the British were "stirring up Indian trouble" on the frontier -- part of the reason for the War of 1812 -- made peace-medal diplomacy especially urgent.
41. MWX_081009_406.JPG: In 1804, one year after purchasing the Louisiana Territory from the French, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched an expedition to explore the unmapped country beyond the upper Missouri River. This "Corps of Discovery," led by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark, was commissioned to find a route across the continent of North America, gather scientific knowledge about the new country, and establish trade with Indian nations along the way. All along their journey, Lewis and Clark initiated friendly relations with the Indians through the presentation of peace medals. By journey's end, they had presented thirty-two Jefferson medals and fifty-five "Season" medals. Gift-giving was an important part of many Indian cultures, so peace medals were not taken lightly. "When you read what is written on the medals which we wear on the outside," said Tatscaga, an Osage leader, "you may also read what is written in our hearts." Thomas Jefferson Medal: The Jefferson medals became the model for all the later American peace medals. The president is depicted on the obverse, or front, with a pair of clasped hands on the reverse. Unlike other presidents' medals, however, these are hollow: they were made by stamping two thin sheets of silver and binding them with a silver rim. Three sizes were made, to indicate the status of the recipient; only the most important chiefs wore the largest medal.
42. MWX_081009_410.JPG: Compare this Peace and Friendship side with one of the prior ones. Both arms have decorated sleeves now.
43. MWX_081009_413.JPG: Thomas Jefferson medal
44. MWX_081009_421.JPG: "... when you gave us peace we called you father, because you promised to secure us in possession of our lands." -- Cornplanter, (Seneca) to George Washington, 1790. The concept of the President as "father" to American Indians meant different things to different people. Cornplanter, speaking at a conference in 1790, called upon Washington to safeguard the Indians' rights to their homelands. President Washington advocated laws to prohibit private purchase of Indian lands, and to punish those who violated treaties. Washington also believed that his role as "father" included teaching European culture to American Indians. He encouraged missionaries, and established government trading posts to provide material goods and promote agriculture. Peace medals were presented to Indian leaders who embraced the Euro-American way of life. Washington was only partially successful as a "protector" and "teacher." Leaders of the Indian nations and the Untied States struggled with these two issues -- protecting Indian lands and promoting European culture -- for the next century. "Season" Medal: The three designs for this series, depicting cattle, a man sowing, and a woman spinning, promoted the Euro-American ideal of "civilized" life. President Washington told a delegation of Cherokee that the medals were "rewards to be bestowed" to those nations who were the "most industrious in raising cattle; in growing corn, wheat, cotton, and flax; and in spinning and weaving." Because these medals had no portrait of the president, they were unpopular with the American Indians.
45. MWX_081009_426.JPG: Washington Medal: These first American peace meals were hand-engraved on silver sheets, unlike European medals which were made by stamping soft metal between dies, or hardened molds. All Washington medals show this basic design, but each handmade copy is unique.
46. MWX_081009_433.JPG: Conflicts between American Indians and Europeans often involved land. Most Indian people considered the land to be sacred. Taking care of the land was a spiritual responsibility, a matter of communal, rather than individual, ownership. In southern New England, for instance, bands of American Indians lived in farming villages during the summer months and scattered over hundreds of miles of hunting grounds after the autumn harvest. Private land ownership seemed greedy and disruptive. For most Europeans, land ownership was established by "working the land." God was not *in* nature, but ruled *over* it, and following God's will meant taming the wilderness -- clearing, fencing, plowing, and building. By European standards, Indians weren't *working* the land, and therefore didn't own it. As European colonies spread to more Indian lands, tensions mounted. By the 1670s, there were twice as many English living in New England as there were Indians. Metacom, a Wampanoag leader, asserted that "Little remains of my ancestors' domain. I am resolved not to see the day when I have no country." Charles IV Medal: Europeans competed for the rights to trade with Indian nations; these arrangements were not only profitable, but also helped establish military alliances. Spanish traders were licensed as government agents, and encouraged Indians to shift their trading allegiance by exchanging British medals for those of Charles IV.
47. MWX_081009_436.JPG: Charles III Medal: As Spain accumulated more territory in North American during the reign of Charles III, maintaining order in the colonies became increasingly difficult. Spain lacked the military strength to confront Indian nations on its own, so peace medals were used to built volunteer militias. Navajo and Comanche leaders, for instance, received peace medals for their help in fighting the Apache.
48. MWX_081009_440.JPG: George III Medal: Throughout the long reign of George III, many medals were distributed in North America. During the War of 1812, for instance, both England and the United States used peace medals to win Indian alliances. These agreements were not taken lightly by Indian leaders such as Black Partridge, a Potowatami, who gave up his American medal in favor of a British one. "I will not wear a token of peace," he said, "while I am compelled to act as an enemy."
49. MWX_081009_454.JPG: George III medal
50. MWX_081009_458.JPG: When Christopher Columbus reached the shores of the Bahamas in 1492, he thought he was in the East Indies and called the native people "Indios." This term, like the word "Indian" later used by English colonists, was misleading because it referred to North American natives as if they all belonged to the same culture. At that time, there were as many as ten million people spread throughout North America. These native residents comprised approximately three hundred cultures, each as distinct as the nations of Europe. Their social organizations ranged from small bands, to farming villages hundreds of years old, to the Great League of the Iroquois. Most European colonists overlooked the diversity of native cultures, and saw only their own differences with the Indians. But in a new, unfamiliar land, colonists valued the American Indians' knowledge and skills. The colonists realized that any exchange between the two cultures was dependent on friendly relations. The peace medal became a symbol of their diplomatic intentions. George III Medal: Typically, British peace medals depicted the reigning monarch on one side and the nation's coat-of-arms on the other. The portraits helped establish peace medals as tangible, personal symbols of allegiance to distant loyalty. Allegiance did not mean, however, that Indians became subjects of the Crown. The arrangement was ordinarily a mutual pledge of military assistance, or of exclusive trading rights.
51. MWX_081009_472.JPG: George II Medal: The presentation of medals to dignitaries, Thomas Jefferson once said, was "an ancient custom from time immemorial." France, Spain, and England produced medals to commemorate the crowning of a new monarch. Statesmen and diplomats used them to express respect and friendship between nations. As these countries began negotiating with American Indian leaders, they brought their customs, and their medals, to the New World.
52. MWX_081009_475.JPG: George II medal
53. MWX_081009_539.JPG: Red Cloud
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is located in St. Louis, Missouri near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS).

The park was established to commemorate several historical events:

* the Louisiana Purchase, and the subsequent westward movement of American explorers and pioneers;
* the first civil government west of the Mississippi River;
* the debate over slavery raised by the Dred Scott case.

The memorial site consists of a 91 acres (37 ha) park along the Mississippi River on the site of the original city of St. Louis; the Old Courthouse, a former state and federal courthouse which saw the origins of the Dred Scott case; the 4,200 m2 (45,000 sq ft) Museum of Westward Expansion; and most notably, the Gateway Arch, an inverted steel catenary arch that has become the definitive icon of the city.

Today, the park is host to four million visitors each year, three quarters of whom enter the Arch or the Old Courthouse.

Components:

The Gateway Arch:

Main article: Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch is known as the "Gateway to the West". It was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947 and built between 1963 and 1968. It is the only building in the world based on the catenary arch, making it the iconic image of the city. It stands 192.024 meters (630 ft) tall and 192.024 meters (630 ft) wide at its base. The legs are 16.46 meters (54 ft) wide at the base, narrowing to 5.18 meters (17 ft) at the arch. There is a unique tram system to carry passengers to the observation room at the top of the arch.

Old Courthouse:

Main article: Old Courthouse

The Old Courthouse is built on land originally deeded by St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau. It marks the location over which the arch reaches. Its dome was built during the American Civil War and is similar to the dome on the United States Capitol which was also built during the Civil War. It was the site of the local trials in the Dred Scott case.

The courthouse is the only portion of the memorial west of I-70. To the west of the Courthouse is a Greenway between Market and Chestnut Streets which is only interrupted by the Civil Courts Building which features a pyramid model of the Mausoleum of Maussollos (which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) on its roof. When Civil Courts building was built in the 1920s the Chouteau family sued to regain the property belonging the Old Courthouse because it had been deeded in perpetuity to be a courthouse.

Museum of Westward Expansion:

Underneath the Arch is a visitor center, entered from a descending outdoor ramp starting at either base. Within the center is the Museum of Westward Expansion, exhibits on the history of the St. Louis riverfront, and tram loading and unloading areas. Tucker Theater, finished in 1968 and renovated 30 years later, has about 285 seats and shows a documentary (Monument to the Dream) on the Arch's construction. Odyssey Theater, designed by Cox/Croslin Architects was completed in 1993 and has 255 seats. It was the first 70 mm film theater to be located on National Park Service grounds and operated by the NPS. The theater runs films from a rotating play list. Also located in the visitor center are retail operations run by the Jefferson National Parks Association, a not-for-profit partner.

History:

1930s:

The memorial was developed largely through the efforts of St. Louis civic booster Luther Ely Smith who first pitched the idea in 1933, was the long-term chairman of the committee that selected the area and persuaded Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to make it a national park after St. Louis passed a bond issue to begin building it, and who partially financed the 1947 architectural contest that selected the Arch.

In the early 1930s the United States began looking for a suitable memorial for Thomas Jefferson (the Washington Monument and the newly built Lincoln Memorial were the only large Presidential memorials at the time).

Shortly after Thanksgiving in 1933 Smith who had been on the commission to build the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana, was returning via train when he noticed the poor condition or the original platted location of St. Louis along the Mississippi. He thought that the memorial to Jefferson should be on the actual location that was symbolic of one of Jefferson's greatest triumphs -- the Louisiana Purchase.

The originally platted area of St. Louis included:

* Site of the Spanish capital of Louisiana (New Spain) (basically the entire Louisiana Purchase area north of Louisiana from the city's founding in 1764 until it was turned .
* Site of the Battle of Saint Louis, the only battle west of the Mississippi River in the American Revolutionary War
* Site of the Three Flags Day ceremony in 1804 in which Spain turned over Louisiana to France for less than 24 hour before it was turned over to the United States clearing the way for Lewis and Clark to legally begin their exploration (which Spain had specifically prohibited)
* Site of the first capital of Upper Louisiana for the United States

Almost all of the historic buildings associated with this period had been replaced by newer buildings. His idea was to raze all of the buildings in the original St. Louis platted area and replace it with a park with "a central feature, a shaft, a building, an arch, or something which would symbolize American culture and civilization."

Smith pitched the idea to Bernard Dickmann who quickly assembled a meeting of St. Louis civic leaders on December 15, 1933 at the Jefferson Hotel and they endorsed the plan and Smith became chairman of what would become the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (a position he would hold until 1949 with a one-year exception).

The Commission then defined the area, got cost estimates of $30 million to buy the land, clear the buildings and erect a park and monument. With promises from the federal government (via the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission) to join if the City of St. Louis could raise money.

The area to be included in the park was the Eads Bridge/Washington Avenue on the north and Poplar Street on the south, the Mississippi River on the east Third Street (now I-70) on the west plus the Old Courthouse just west of Third Street (the Courthouse was actually added in 1940).

The only building in this area not included was the Old Cathedral, which is on the site of St. Louis first church and was opposite the home of St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau. The founders of the city were buried in its graveyard (but were moved in 1849 to Bellefontaine Cemetery during a cholera outbreak).

Taking away 40 blocks in the center of St. Louis was bitterly fought by some sources -- particularly the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

On September 10, 1935, the voters of St. Louis approved a $7.5 million bond issue to buy the property.

The buildings were bought for $7 million by the federal government via Eminent domain and was subject to considerable litigation but were ultimately bought at 131.99 percent of assessed valuation.

Roosevelt inspected the memorial area on October 14, 1936 during the dedication of the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial . Included in the party was then Senator Harry S. Truman.

1940s:

The land was to be cleared by 1942. Among the buildings razed was the "Old Rock House" 1818 home of fur trader Manuel Lisa (now occupied by the stairs on the north side of the Arch) and the 1819 home of original St. Louis pioneer Jean Pierre Chouteau at First and Washington.

The architectural competition for a monument was delayed by World War II. Interest in the monument was fed after the war as it was to be the first big monument in the post-World War II era.

The estimated cost of the competition was $225,000 and Smith personally donated $40,000. Civic leaders held the nation-wide competition in 1947 to select a design for the main portion of the Memorial space.

Architect Eero Saarinen won this competition with plans for a 590-foot (180-metre) catenary arch to be placed on the banks of the Mississippi River. However, these plans were modified over the next 15 years, placing the arch on higher ground and adding 40 feet (12 m) in height and width.

The central architectural feature at the base of the arch is the Old Courthouse, which was once the tallest building in Missouri and has a dome similar to the United States Capitol and was placed on the building during the American Civil War at the same time as that on the U.S. Capitol.

Saarinen developed the shape with the help of architectural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. It is not a pure inverted catenary. Saarinen preferred a shape that was slightly elongated and thinner towards the top, a shape that produces a subtle soaring effect, and transfers more of the structure's weight downward rather than outward at the base.

When Saarinen won the competition, the official notification was sent to "E. Saarinen", thinking it to be the architect's father Eliel Saarinen, who had also submitted an entry. The family celebrated with a bottle of champagne, and two hours later an embarrassed official called to say the winner was, in fact, the younger Saarinen. The elder Saarinen then broke out a second bottle of champagne to celebrate his son's success.

Among the five finalists was local St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong.

1950s:

Land for the memorial was formally dedicated on June 10, 1950 by Harry S. Truman. However the Korean War began and the project was put on hold.

On June 23, 1959, work begins on covering railroad tracks that cut across the memorial grounds.

1960s:

On February 11, 1961 excavation began.

On September 1, 1961 Saarinen died.

On February 12, 1963 the first stainless steel triangle that forms the first section of the arch was set in place on the south leg.

On October 28, 1965 it was completed, costing approximately US$15 million to build. Along with all other historical areas of the National Park Service, the memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicated the Arch on May 25, 1968.

1980s:

In 1984, Congress authorized the enlargement of the Memorial to include up to 100 acres (0.4 km2) on the east bank of the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois. Funds were authorized to begin land acquisition, but Congress placed a moratorium upon NPS land acquisitions in fiscal year 1998. The moratorium continued into the 21st century, with expansion becoming less likely because of the construction of a riverboat gambling facility and related amenities.

1990s:

During the Great Flood of 1993, Mississippi flood waters reached half way up the Grand Staircase on the east.

In 1999, the Arch tram queue areas were completely renovated at a cost of approximately $2.2 million.

In 1999 the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis County, Missouri was brought under the Superintendent of the Memorial jurisdiction.

2000s:

The arch was featured on the Missouri state quarter in 2003.

In 2007 St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and former Missouri Senator John Danforth asked the National Park Service to create a more "active" use of the grounds of the memorial and model it on Millennium Park in Chicago including the possibility of an amphitheater, cafes and restaurants, fountains, bicycle rentals, sculptures and an aquarium. The National Park Service is currently cool to the plan noting that the only other overt development pressure on National Park property has been at the Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park

The Memorial is separated from the rest of Downtown St. Louis by a sunken section of I-70. The city is considering a $90 million proposal to cover the interstate. The NPS, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, is considering a plan to complete Saarinen's original master plan. The intention is to build the Gateway Arch Connector to link the Old Courthouse with the grounds of the Arch.
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