In 1947 there was a competition held to create an appropriate design for a memorial. Eero Saarinen won the competition with his design of the Arch.

The Gateway Arch towers 630 feet above the banks of the Mississippi River as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The Gateway Arch borrows the arch concept from a neighboring bridge designed by Sverdrup and Parcel.

The stainless-steel-faced Arch spans 630 feet between the outer faces of its triangular legs at ground level and it is 630 feet tall. It takes the shape of an inverted catenary curve.