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Topic: It Was 40 Years Ago Today... (Read 264 times) |
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Carl_D
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That the beautiful St. Louis Gateway Arch was completed. This is the story from Yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051028/ap_on_re_us/st__louis_arch;_ylt=Agh. VOqyKjJMKocOmzMNJFBH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-
ST. LOUIS - When architect Eero Saarinen was creating the design of this city's famed Gateway Arch, he constructed his first model out of pipe cleaners. A long way from its humble beginnings, the shimmering steel Arch celebrates its 40th anniversary Friday.
The original builders are being invited back to talk to visitors and a temporary exhibit on Saarinen will open in the museum beneath the Arch. Book signings will be held for a new anniversary publication, "The Gateway Arch, An Architectural Dream."
The idea for a memorial in St. Louis began in 1933 with lawyer Luther Ely Smith, who was looking for a way to beautify the city's run-down riverfront, the first glimpse many visitors got of St. Louis.
Although work was done to secure and clear 90 acres, the idea for a memorial was not revitalized until two years after World War II.
Saarinen wanted a design that would mark President Thomas Jefferson's role in the nation's westward expansion (he signed the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the United States) and honor the 19th century migration of hundreds of thousands of people to the West at a time when St. Louis was the last major city before the frontier.
Saarinen recounted in a 1948 newspaper article how he came up with the Arch's design by thinking about how earlier memorials to "our three greatest men" — Jefferson, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — each had a distinct geometric shape.
He began to envision a dome with a design more open than the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, perhaps one that touched the ground at three points.
"We tried it in a very crude way; the only things we could find to make it with were some pipe cleaners. But three legs did not seem to fit in the plan, so we tried it with two legs, like a big arch."
The design competition that Saarinen's team entered in 1947-48 had 172 submissions, including one from his father, the well-known architect Eliel Saarinen. Eero was just 38 and his father's reputation far surpassed his own at the time.
When a Saarinen advanced in the competition, Eliel received a telegram congratulating him and the family broke out a bottle of champagne.
"Two hours later the family received a phone call from an embarrassed competition official," Eero's daughter, Susan Saarinen, said in her account. It was young Eero, and not his father, who had a chance to win. "Eliel, a very proud father, broke out a second bottle of champagne" to toast his son.
Eero Saarinen died in 1961, before the Arch's construction from 1963 to 1965. The new exhibit runs through July 16.
The St Louis Arch is something you have to see up close to capture its beauty. Earlier this month, they lit up the Arch pink for one night in honor of breast cancer survival month.
Peace,
Carl D
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| « Last Edit: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:13am by Carl_D » |
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Carl_D
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #1 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:19am » |
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Here it is lit up pink for breast cancer awareness month.
Also, a few stats:
Height - 630 feet
Width at the base - 630 feet
Weight - 43,000 tons
Exterior composition - Stainless steel
When it was built February 12, 1963 -October 28, 1965
Depth of the foundation - 60 feet
Architect - Eero Saarinen
Structural Engineer - Fred Severud
Location - In the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North Fourth Street, St. Louis, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River
Time it takes to travel in the tram to the observation deck at the top of the arch - About 4 minutes (it travels at a rate of 240 feet per minute)
Number of steps in each leg of the arch (the stairs are used only for maintenance and emergencies) - 1,076
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Kevin_M
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #2 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:20am » |
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When I was in third grade, 1963, we used to write to different city's Chamber of Commerce to get info and postcards. I got one from St. Louis with an artist's rendition of the arch being built. Gateway to the West. Then I wrote to Dodge City. 
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| « Last Edit: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:29am by Kevin_M » |
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vig
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #3 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:23am » |
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and then McDonald's took it over....
sorry Carl....
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never, Never, NEVER quit. -Winston Churchill
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Carl_D
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #4 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:25am » |
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LMAO!
Now I KNOW I've seen it all.
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LeLimey
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #5 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:28am » |
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LMAO Vig.. I'll admit it, I thought about it too!
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The arsehole I'm divorcing needs to get a life and stop stalking mine
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sandie99
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #6 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 9:45am » |
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BTW, did ya know that Eero Saarinen was actully a Finn...? 
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Ghost
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #7 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 10:06am » |
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I thought he had to many vowels 
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If all men are endowed by their creator, why was mine so short sighted?
***WARNING*** Oxygen will rust your pipes!
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Ghost
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Re: It Was 40 Years Ago Today...
« Reply #8 on: Oct 28th, 2005, 10:07am » |
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on Oct 28th, 2005, 9:23am, vig wrote:and then McDonald's took it over....
sorry Carl....
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Hey isnt that the new hooters logo?
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Illigitimus Non Tatum Carborundum
If all men are endowed by their creator, why was mine so short sighted?
***WARNING*** Oxygen will rust your pipes!
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