St. Louis, the "Gateway to the West," wanted a gate to mark the spot. The citizens offered $125,000 in prizes for the best ideas. Last week the winning design was announced: a stainless steel, streamlined, 590-ft.-high arch to rise beside the Mississippi on a site which was formerly occupied mostly by old warehouses. The arch, with a "funicular elevator and observation corridor," had first reared in the mind of a talented Michigan architect named Eero Saarinen, who, with his father Eliel, is a frequent winner of architectural competitions. His prize this time: $40,000 and a warm recommendation to Washington. (Congress must...
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