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43 free Gateway Arch National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Gateway Arch National Park trivia quiz covers the smallest national park in the United States and the tallest monument in the country: the 630-foot stainless-steel arch on the St. Louis riverfront. Questions cover Eero Saarinen's 1947 design and the champagne mix-up with his father, the engineering (142 steel sections, 18 inches of sway, the fire hoses used to fit the keystone), the tram that is half Ferris wheel and half elevator, and the stunts, protests and pilots that have made headlines beneath it. History ranges from Luther Ely Smith's 1933 idea and a rigged bond election through the demolition of 40 downtown blocks, the 1965 topping-out, the 1968 dedication, the CityArchRiver renovation and the controversial 2018 act that turned the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial into a national park. The Old Courthouse, where Dred Scott sued for his freedom and Virginia Minor sued to vote, gets its due, as do the Louisiana Purchase, Three Flags Day and the Eads Bridge next door. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy this one, try our St. Louis and US National Parks quizzes next.
30 of 43 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The park sits on the bank of which river?
The Mississippi
The park lines the west bank of the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis, on the riverfront where the city was founded as a French fur-trading post.
Q 02How does the park rank in size among US national parks?
It is the smallest
Gateway Arch is the smallest US national park, an urban riverfront strip in St. Louis; the next-smallest, Hot Springs in Arkansas, is nearly 30 times bigger.
Q 03How tall is the Gateway Arch?
630 feet
The Gateway Arch stands 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at the base, making it the tallest arch in the world and the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere.
Q 04Which Finnish-American architect designed the arch?
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen, son of architect Eliel Saarinen, won the 1947–48 competition with the arch; his other works include the TWA Flight Center at JFK, Dulles airport's terminal and the Tulip chair.
Q 05What embarrassing mix-up happened when the 1947 competition result was announced?
The notice went to the architect's father, who had also entered
The notice was addressed to 'E. Saarinen'; the family toasted Eliel, and two hours later an official rang to say the winner was his son Eero, so they opened a second bottle.
Q 06What was the site called from 1935 until 2018?
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was established by presidential executive order on 21 December 1935 to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase and westward expansion; Congress renamed it Gateway Arch National Park in 2018.
Q 07Which senator sponsored the bill that renamed the memorial Gateway Arch National Park?
Roy Blunt
Senator Roy Blunt introduced the Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act in 2017; it passed both houses and was signed into law on 22 February 2018, despite grumbling that a monument is not a 'national park'.
Q 08Which St. Louis civic booster first pitched the riverfront memorial idea in 1933?
Luther Ely Smith
Luther Ely Smith, a lawyer and civic activist, conceived the riverfront memorial in 1933 after visiting the George Rogers Clark memorial in Vincennes, Indiana; he led the memorial association and gave $40,000 toward the design competition.
Q 09What later emerged about the 1935 bond election that approved buying the riverfront?
It was rigged
The 40-block clearance was bitterly opposed by the Post-Dispatch; the true number of voters in favour is unknown, and the government paid about 132 percent of assessed value.
Q 10Roughly how many downtown blocks were razed to make room for the memorial?
40
Among the losses were fur trader Manuel Lisa's 1818 'Old Rock House' and Jean Pierre Chouteau's 1819 home; a single church was spared.
Q 11How tall was the arch in Saarinen's original winning design?
590 feet
Saarinen's 1948 competition design called for an arch 590 feet tall and 590 feet wide; as the plans were refined and the site shifted to higher ground, it later grew in both height and width.
Q 12On what date was the arch completed with the placing of its keystone?
28 October 1965
The final 8-foot keystone section was set on 28 October 1965, two and a half years after construction began in February 1963, joining the two legs at the top.
Q 13What did workers have to do to fit the final keystone section?
Spray the south leg with fire hoses to shrink it
Q 21How many emergency steps climb each leg of the arch?
1,076
Each leg contains an emergency stairway of 1,076 steps for use if the trams fail; it is not open to visitors, who reach the top only by tram.
Q 22What was the original fee that paid off the bonds that financed the tram?
$1 a ride
Riders paid $1 a trip, and the fares repaid the revenue bonds that the Bi-State Development Agency issued in 1962 to build and run the trams after the Park Service ran short of money.
Q 23On 14 July 1964, civil rights activists Percy Green and Richard Daly did what?
Climbed 125 feet up a leg to protest hiring bias
The morning sun was expanding the south leg and closing the 8.5-foot gap, so firefighters sprayed it with hoses to cool and shrink it; the final piece went in about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Q 14What was welded into the keystone before it was set?
A time capsule with 762,000 signatures
Most of the signatures were schoolchildren's; a priest and a rabbi prayed over the 10-ton, eight-foot triangular section.
Q 15How many prefabricated stainless steel sections make up the arch?
142
Each 12-foot triangle was hoisted by creeper derricks and its double skin filled with concrete; a scissors truss steadied the legs at 530 feet.
Q 16How many construction workers died building the arch?
None
None: despite an insurers' prediction of 13 deaths, no worker was killed building the arch between 1963 and 1965; about a million people came to watch the construction in 1963 alone.
Q 17How far is the arch designed to sway in strong wind?
Up to 18 inches either way
The arch is built to sway up to 18 inches either way in 150 mph winds, though a 20 mph breeze moves it only about an inch; each leg rests on a foundation 60 feet deep.
Q 18What shape is the cross-section of each leg of the arch?
An equilateral triangle
Each leg is an equilateral triangle in cross-section, 54 feet on a side at the ground and tapering to 17 feet at the top, which is why the legs look slimmer as they rise.
Q 19The tram to the top has been described as half elevator and half what?
Ferris wheel
Designer Dick Bowser's tram is half elevator, half Ferris wheel: its small capsules rotate to stay level as they climb the curved legs, taking four minutes up and three minutes down.
Q 20How many people can each tram carry at once?
40
Eight capsules of five seats each; with two trams, 80 people can ride at a time and the observation deck holds about 160.
The Congress of Racial Equality members were highlighting the lack of Black contractors and skilled workers on a federally funded job; they came down after four hours and were arrested.
Q 24Who officially dedicated the arch on 25 May 1968?
Vice President Humphrey and Secretary Udall
Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall formally dedicated the arch on 25 May 1968, the project having stalled during the Korean War after Harry Truman dedicated the site in 1950.
Q 25What happened to Kenneth Swyers on 22 November 1980?
He parachuted onto the top of the arch and fell to his death
He had planned a BASE jump off the top with his reserve chute; a 1992 climber, John Vincent, did reach the top with suction cups and parachuted down.
Q 26The Old Courthouse in the park was the scene of the local trials in which landmark case?
Dred Scott's freedom suit
The enslaved Scott sued for his and his wife's freedom in 1846; the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1857, saying they had no standing as citizens.
Q 27Which suffragist's lawsuit over being refused a vote in 1872 began in the Old Courthouse?
Virginia Minor
Virginia Minor sued registrar Reese Happersett for refusing to register her in 1872; the case began in the Old Courthouse, and in 1875 the Supreme Court ruled in Minor v. Happersett that the Constitution conferred no right to vote.
Q 28What material is the Old Courthouse's Civil War-era dome made of?
Cast iron
William Rumbold's dome, built in 1861–64, is framed in cast iron and wrought iron, among the earliest iron domes in the United States; it was raised while the Capitol dome in Washington was also under construction.
Q 29The Civil Courts Building west of the Old Courthouse carries a model of what on its roof?
The Mausoleum of Mausolus
The Civil Courts Building, opened in 1930, is crowned with a replica of the Mausoleum of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, complete with a stepped pyramid roof.
Q 30What was Three Flags Day in St. Louis in 1804?
Spain handed Louisiana to France, which handed it to the US within 24 hours
The ceremony completed the Louisiana Purchase and legally cleared Lewis and Clark to head west, which Spain had forbidden.