Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Saint Louis

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Location St. Louis, Missouri, USA Coordinates 38°37′29″N 90°11′06″WCoordinates: 38°37′29″N 90°11′06″W Area 192.83 acres (78.04 ha) 90.96 acres (36.81 ha) federal Established December 21, 1935 Visitors 2,944,976 (in 2005) Governing body National Park Service

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is 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:

   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 consists of a 91-acre (36.8 ha) park along the Mississippi River on the site of the earliest buildings of St. Louis; the Old Courthouse, a former state and federal courthouse that saw the origins of the Dred Scott case; the 45,000 sq ft (4,200 m2) Museum of Westward Expansion; and most notably, the Gateway Arch, a steel catenary arch that has become the definitive icon of the city.