St. Louis, Missouri was a hub for settlers, hunters, and explorers heading west during the 1800s. It was the starting point for Lewis and Clark’s expedition and played a major role in the fur trade. The Gateway Arch symbolizes the city’s nickname and houses the Museum of Westward Expansion.
The city of St. Louis, Missouri is known as the “Gateway to the West.” It has this nickname because it was the starting point for the westward movement of settlers in the United States during the 1800s. It was a traveling hub for many settlers, hunters, and others migrating westward. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis symbolizes the city’s nickname.
St. Louis plays an important role in US history. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out from St. Louis in 1804 to explore and map the Louisiana Territory. They were sent by US President Thomas Jefferson to investigate the Louisiana Purchase, land that the US had purchased from France. Many pioneers, hunters and adventurers have followed in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the new frontier of the West.
When heading west, St. Louis was the last major city many settlers encountered. The so-called “Gateway to the West” was where these travelers could refuel before venturing further. Many entrepreneurs made their fortunes in St. Louis, selling products to people heading to the western part of the country. St. Louis sits on the banks of the Mississippi River and just south of the Missouri River, so it was also popular for explorers who used the rivers for travel. Travelers could travel up the Missouri River to the northern sections of the unexplored West during the years that area of the United States was being settled.
The Gateway to the West was the center of the fur trade in the United States in the early 1800s. Trappers and hunters used the “Gateway to the West” as a staging post before going hunting, and they used it as a shipping point. The two major rivers near the city provided them with the means to send their furs and other goods east to be sold.
The Gateway Arch, also known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is a 630-foot (192-meter) tall metal structure built in St. Louis to symbolize the city as the “Gateway to the West.” It commemorates the large part the City of St. Louis played in westward expansion. The Museum of Westward Expansion is housed in the Gateway Arch. It has artifacts from the Lewis and Clark Expedition and teaching exhibits about the pioneers who traveled through St. Louis to help build the American West during the 1800s.
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