One 630-foot-tall stainless steel beauty is celebrating a birthday! The Gateway Arch was completed on October 28, 1965, and as we mark its 54^th year, impress your friends and family with these “by the numbers” facts of our favorite monument.

172: Number of submissions in the contest to design the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen’s unqiue and simplistic arch won. (Eero even beat his famous architect dad, Eliel Saarinen!)

2.5 years: How long it took to build the Arch.

$13.4 million: How much it cost to build the Arch in the early 1960s.

Zero: Number of lives lost in the construction of the Arch.

43,226 tons: How much the Arch weighs.

630 feet: Height and width of the Arch. (It’s an optical illusion!) And did you know? The Arch is the tallest monument in the U.S.

4 minutes: How long it takes for the tram to reach the top of the Arch.

3 minutes: How long it takes to take a tram ride down the Arch. (Thanks, gravity!)

$2 million: Cost to complete the Arch’s unique tram system (in 1967 dollars).

18 inches: How much the Arch can sway. (Whoa!)

30 miles: How far you can see from the top of the Arch observation deck on a clear day.

Meet the Builders Event

In celebration of the Arch’s 54^th birthday, the National Park Service will host its annual Arch Builders’ Reunion on Saturday, Oct. 26 to honor the many engineers, tradesmen and support staff who contributed to the construction of the Gateway Arch from 1963 to 1965.

At the event, the builders will share memories, private memorabilia and photographs with attendees, and sign autographs. The gathering is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Arch’s tram lobby from 10:00 a.m. to noon.

We hope you can join us for this wonderful opportunity to truly meet history – the Arch builders!