St. Louis’s arch is iconic as the Hollywood sign or the Statue of Liberty; it cannot be mistaken for anything else. It also came at a critical time in the city’s development, in the midst of the Great Depression, as the waterfront area was dilapidated and crumbling. Luther Ely Smith, a civic leader, noticed the poor state of the area as he was passing by on a train just after Thanksgiving in 1933. He first suggested building a large park encompassing several historic sites, and a memorial on it, to revive the local economy.

On this day, May 25, in 1968, more than three decades after Smith’s initial proposal, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who declared it “a soaring curve in the sky that links the rich heritage of yesterday with the richer future of tomorrow”.

Before the final keystone section was put in place over the arch, 762,000 St. Louis area students and well-wishers added their names to be sealed inside a metal time capsule welded into the keystone. There is no designated time for the capsule’s opening; it will be there as long as the monument stands.