Editing Gateway Arch National Park (section)

===1930s===
[[Image:STL Old courthouse.jpg|thumb|The [[Old Courthouse (St. Louis, Missouri)|Old Courthouse]] from the observation area at the top of the arch]]
The memorial was developed largely through the efforts of St. Louis civic booster [[Luther Ely Smith]] who first pitched the idea in 1933, was the long-term chairman of the committee that selected the area and persuaded [[Franklin Roosevelt]] in 1935 to make it a National Park Service unit after St. Louis passed a bond issue to begin building it and who partially financed the 1947 architectural contest that selected the arch.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/upload/luther_ely_smith.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216003443/http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/upload/luther_ely_smith.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-16 |url-status=live |title= Luther Ely Smith: Founder of a Memorial |work= The Museum Gazette |publisher= National Park Service |access-date= January 11, 2008}}</ref>

In the early 1930s the United States began looking for a suitable memorial for [[Thomas Jefferson]] (the [[Washington Monument]] and the newly built [[Lincoln Memorial]] were the only large Presidential memorials at the time).

Shortly after [[Thanksgiving]] in 1933 Smith who had been on the commission to build the [[George Rogers Clark National Historical Park]] in Indiana, was returning via train when he noticed the poor condition of the original [[plat]]ted location of St. Louis along the Mississippi. He thought that the memorial to Jefferson should be on the actual location that was symbolic of one of Jefferson's greatest triumphs—the [[Louisiana Purchase]].

The originally platted area of St. Louis was the site of:
*The [[Battle of St. Louis]], the only battle west of the Mississippi River in the [[American Revolutionary War]].
*The first capital of Upper Louisiana for the United States, the [[Louisiana Purchase]] north of the [[33rd parallel north|33rd parallel]] that was the original [[Louisiana Territory]] in 1803.
*The [[Three Flags Day]] ceremony in 1804 in which Spain formally turned over Louisiana to France, less than 24 hours before France then officially turned it over to the United States. This technically completed the Louisiana Purchase, and also cleared the way for [[Meriwether Lewis]] and [[William Clark]] to legally begin their [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|exploration]] of the continental west, which Spain had prohibited.

Almost all of the historic buildings associated with this period had been replaced by newer buildings.  His idea was to raze all of the buildings in the original St. Louis platted area and replace it with a park with "a central feature, a shaft, a building, an arch, or something which would symbolize American culture and civilization."

Smith pitched the idea to [[Bernard Dickmann]] who quickly assembled a meeting of St. Louis civic leaders on December 15, 1933, at the Jefferson Hotel and they endorsed the plan and Smith became chairman of what would become the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (a position he would hold until 1949 with a one-year exception).

The Commission then defined the area, got cost estimates of $30 million to buy the land, clear the buildings and erect a park and monument.  With promises from the federal government (via the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission) to join if the City of St. Louis could raise money.

The area to be included in the park was bounded by the [[Eads Bridge]]/Washington Avenue on the north and Poplar Street on the south, the Mississippi River on the east and Third Street (now [[Interstate 44 in Missouri|Interstate 44]]) on the west. The [[Old Courthouse (St. Louis, Missouri)|Old Courthouse]], just west of Third Street, was added in 1940.<ref>{{cite news|last1=O’Neil|first1=Tim|title=With cornice repairs complete, scaffold around St. Louis' Old Courthouse coming down|url=http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/with-cornice-repairs-complete-scaffold-around-st-louis-old-courthouse/article_2930a6da-79a0-5f39-9f80-102cacb5d64e.html|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=December 13, 2012}}</ref>

The only building in this area not included was the [[Basilica of St. Louis, King of France|Old Cathedral]], which is on the site of St. Louis first church and was opposite the home of St. Louis founder [[Auguste Chouteau]]. The founders of the city were buried in its graveyard (but were moved in 1849 to [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]] during a [[cholera]] outbreak).

[[File:St. Louis riverfront after demolition for Gateway Arch (1942).jpg|thumb|alt=Large empty area adjacent to St Louis downtown, cleared for redevelopment|40 blocks and 486 buildings were demolished]]
Taking away 40 blocks in the center of St. Louis was bitterly fought by some sources—particularly the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title= Editorial |work= Jefferson City Daily Capital News |date= June 24, 1939}}{{full citation needed|date= February 2015}}</ref> On September 10, 1935, the voters of St. Louis supposedly approved a $7.5 million bond issue to buy the property. Local architect [[Louis LaBeaume]] provided a preliminary design proposal for the site that included multiple museums, fountains and obelisks.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H39FAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MscMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2575%2C5685821 |title=St. Louis River Front Memorial Approved by Voters |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=11 September 1935 |newspaper=The Southeast Missourian |access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> Soon after, it was revealed that the election was rigged, and the true number of voters in favor of the demolition of the riverfront is unknown.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/special-reports/arch/fraudulent-election-provides-funds-to-create-arch-grounds/article_27183636-e603-5c1a-9e52-a8913e0e2bba.html |title=Fraudulent Election Provides Funds to Create Arch Grounds |newspaper=St. Louis Post Dispatch |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref>

The buildings were bought for $7 million by the federal government via [[Eminent domain]] and was subject to considerable litigation but were ultimately bought at 131.99 percent of assessed valuation.<ref>{{cite news |title= St. Louis Site Obtained for Jefferson Memorial |agency= United Press |work=The Hammond Times  |date= June 22, 1939 |volume=34 |number=5 |page=15 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/hammond-times-jun-22-1939-p-15/ |url-access=subscription |via=[[Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref> Roosevelt inspected the memorial area on October 14, 1936, during the dedication of the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial. Included in the party was then Senator [[Harry S. Truman]].<ref>{{cite news |title= 225,00 See Roosevelt in St. Louis |agency= Associated Press |work= Moberly Monitor-Index |date= October 14, 1936}}{{full citation needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>