The iconic Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri, is just one of the many recognizable attractions this historic city has to offer. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, the city of St. Louis is known for its barbecue restaurants and vibrant music scene, which specializes in the blues genre. The Anheuser-Busch Factory, the St. Louis Cathedral, and a wealth of museums, shops, breweries, and music venues await visitors and tourists in St. Louis. Here are a few places to call home for a while when enjoying this fun and exciting city.
The 15 Best Romantic Getaways in St. Louis for Couples near me today according to local experts:
- 1. The Fleur de Lys Mansion
- 2. Cheshire Hotel
- 3. The Lodge at Grant's Trail
- 4. The Last Hotel
- 5. The Chase Park Plaza Hotel
- 6. The Ritz-Carlton St. Louis
- 7. Four Seasons St. Louis
- 8. Moonrise Hotel
- 9. Magnolia Hotel
- 10. River City Casino and Hotel
- 11. The Westin
- 12. St Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
- 13. Hotel Ignacio
- 14. The Seven Gables Inn
Attraction Spotlight: City Museum
Located in the Washington Loft District of St Louis, City Museum is an award-winning avant-garde attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The museum consists of four floors of exhibit space spanning 600,000 square feet. Considered by many as a surrealist exploration of found objects, it is part museum and part playground. Many of the objects incorporated into the architectural collage of the building have cultural or historical significance for the city of St. Louis. This singular attraction brings to light both the tensions and opportunities inherent in a city landscape.
History:
City Museum first opened its doors in 1997, 4 years after Bob Cassily bought the property with his wife Gail. The structure’s original purpose was to house the International Shoe Company factory and warehouse. Due to its immense popularity, the museum has grown to include new attractions over the years. The first such expansion took place in 2002, with the addition of the MonstroCity exhibit. The following year, the Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shaft was added. The year 2004 saw the addition of the World Aquarium exhibit.
Exhibits:
First Floor and Mezzanine
Upon entering the museum, visitors are plunged into a world of aquatic sculptural mastery. Framed by mosaic floors and columns, the space features sculptures of fish, mermaids, and other fantastical sea creatures. The exhibit blends fantasy and reality by incorporating a real 5,000 gallon aquarium, which is home to various species of fish and turtles. Those hoping to rent the space will also find a triple level tree stage, a dance floor as well as seating for approximately 100 people.
MonstroCity
This exhibit is a giant jungle gym containing many levels, caves, and climbs. The purpose of this space is to explore and play. To this end, there are ball pits of various sizes as well as slinkies through which visitors are invited to crawl. The focal point of the room, if one had to pick something, would likely be the two aircraft fuselages suspended from the ceiling.
Vault Room
True to its name, the Vault Room features double vault doors. To add to the bank vault theme, its walls are lined with safety deposit boxes. A Versailles-inspired hallway of mirrors, a myriad of St. Louis relics as well as a marble bar are just a few of the features that visitors will encounter in this area of the museum.
Cabin Inn and Patio
This 19th century log cabin that was once the home of Daniel Boone’s son was added to City Museum’s roster of exhibits in the 1990s. The museum purchased it from the Hezel family, who owned the structure for more than 100 years. Featuring a spacious brick patio overlooking the MonstroCity exhibit space, visitors are invited to sit and socialize in this repurposed pioneer structure.
Architecture Hall and Museum
Architecture Hall is an event space adjacent to the Architecture Exhibit at City Museum. This exhibit was curated by Bruce Gerrie and features a variety of salvaged architectural pieces. The hall has a dance floor and a turn of the century bar, which offers an elegant backdrop for evening functions.
Shops and Concessions
One of the most unique features of City Museum is its adjacent shoelace factory. An homage to the building’s original purpose, the factory now produces colorful shoe laces available for purchase by museumgoers.
Samwiches in the City is a restaurant located on the mezzanine level of the museum. This small eatery features gourmet sandwiches made from artisanal breads, St. Louis-style brick oven pizzas, and much more. Despite using high-brow ingredients, the menu is kid-friendly and can be adapted to suit some dietary restrictions.
Available exclusively during the summer months and weather-permitting days, the Roof Top Cantina offers an unparalleled dining experience. Focusing on authentic Latin American fare, the Roof Top Cantina has delectable tacos, pico de gallo, nachos, and fresh guacamole. Visitors of drinking age are invited to try its original cocktails. Here, visitors can be seated under the museum’s rooftop Ferris wheel while enjoying sunset views of the city of St. Louis.
Finally, for those seeking a hearty home-style meal, Grill Master Tony’s delivers delectable St. Louis specialties, such as the always-popular mango BBQ ribs.
750 North 16th Street, St. Louis, MO 6310, Phone: 314-231-2489
Attraction Spotlight: Gateway Arch
No other monument better evokes the spirit of the city than the St. Louis Gateway Arch in St Louis. Located amidst the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, it has become as emblematic of American national identity as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore. Aside from the Gateway Arch itself, there is much else to see on the 91 acres dedicated to the monument. The grounds surrounding the arch as well as the Old Courthouse are just a few of the attractions that draw tourists to this landmark each year.
History
Completed in 1965 to commemorate Thomas Jefferson and the role of St. Louis in the development of the Western United States, the Gateway Arch is one of the city’s best known landmarks. Originally this monument was the brainchild of Luther Ely Smith, a well-known civic leader who saw this project not only as homage to the city’s history but also as a way of reviving the riverfront area of the city. Eero Saarinen’s design for the arch was selected during the national design competition, which took place between 1947 and 1948. After a few years spent perfecting Saarinen’s plans, the initial groundbreaking took place on June 23rd, 1959. Excavations began in 1961 and the last piece of the arch was secured into place by 1965. The fact that the whole project was completed on time, within budget, and without loss of life is a point of pride for the monument.
Two years after the completion of the arch, the trams that transport visitors to the arch’s summit were added alongside the visitors center. A few years later, the Museum of Western Expansion was added beneath the arch. The arch celebrated its 50th anniversary on October 28th, 2015. Plans for the future of the Gateway Arch and the surrounding grounds include the completion of a continuous greenway which will connect Luther Ely Square, the Gateway Arch, and the riverfront.
The Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall, giving in a height equivalent to a 63-story building. Between its outer legs, it measures 630 feet at ground level. The legs at the base of the structure are 54 feet wide, while the top of the structure is only 17 feet wide. The entire structure is composed of 142 sections of stainless steel sections, altogether weighing in at 43,226 tons. It sits on top of foundations that have been dug 60 feet below ground. At the top of the arch there is an observation deck complete with 16 small windows measuring 7 inches by 27 inches. While these seem rather small for a structure this grand in size, visitors are often surprised to learn that it took 500 tons of pressure to pry the north and south legs of the structure in order to position the last four foot piece at the top. This made it impossible to insert windows any larger in size.
While the monument has built-in stairs and elevators for maintenance purposes, visitors travel to the top of the arch via tram cars, which elevate at a speed of 340 feet per minute.
Once at the top, visitors should be able to see 30 miles in each direction provided that the weather is clear. The view westward showcases Missouri including views of downtown St. Louis. Gazing eastward, visitors will see the Illinois side of the river. While the arch straddles the Mississippi River, 15 miles north of the arch the Missouri River meets the Mississippi River.
The unique shape of the arch is more precisely called a catenary curve. This is the shape ascribed to free-hanging chains when they are held at both ends. Visitors who have a fear of heights are advised that the structure was built to withstand earthquakes and can sway up to 18 inches in both directions. Many are relieved to find that the arch is in fact stable under normal conditions and that it would take winds of 50 miles per hour to move it just 1.5 inches.
The Grounds
The landscape for the grounds surrounding the Gateway Arch was designed by architect Eero Saarinen and landscape architect Dan Kiley. In so doing, their goal was to echo the elegant lines of the arch by including elements that speak to its curvature without overshadowing it with intricacy. They accomplished this task by including winding walking paths, ponds, and carefully chosen greenery. Visitors are encouraged to walk the grounds and reflect on the ways in which the design of the arch is mirrored in its surroundings.
One Metropolitan Square, 211 North Broadway, Suite 700, St. Louis, MO 63102-2595, Phone: 877-982-1410
Attraction Spotlight: Forest Park
Located in St Louis, Missouri, Forest Park is a 1,300-acre public park containing five of the city’s major cultural institutions, along with a variety of public garden, exercise, and relaxation spaces. Proposals for a prominent city park in St. Louis date back to 1864, with several proposals throughout the 1860s and early 1870s failing to gain support from the city’s voters and legislature.
An 1874 proposal by developer Andrew McKinley gained support from Missouri’s General Assembly, however, which resulted in the creation of the Forest Park Act to develop a 1,375-acre tract of land near the city’s Kingshighway and Olive Street. Several parcels of land belonging to local landholders were acquired in 1874 and 1875 at a cost of $849,058, and an additional $1 million in funds were allocated by the Assembly for the renovation and maintenance of the park area. In June of 1876, the park was formally dedicated with a ceremony for a crowd of 50,000, and by the late 19th century, due to the advent of the streetcar, the park attracted a visitorship of more than three million annual visitors.
Throughout the early 20th century, Forest Park was the host of several major international events, including the 1904 World’s Fair and the swimming, diving, and water polo events for the 1904 Summer Olympic games. Landscaping of the park by World’s Fair architect George Kessler dramatically altered the park’s landscape, converting undeveloped wetland areas into an interconnected series of lakes and adding large new forest and vista spaces. Several structures retained from the World’s Fair were converted into cultural institutions throughout the 20th century, including the Saint Louis Art Museum and the 1904 Bird Cage, which became part of the St. Louis Zoo. As part of conservation and flood mitigation efforts, a number of original park wetland and prairie areas have been restored throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
Today, Forest Park is the sixth most-visited urban park in the United States and is widely renowned as one of the country’s greatest urban natural spaces, voted as the favorite city park in the nation by USA Today readers in 2016. More than 13 million annual visitors enjoy the park’s 1,300-acre landscape, which showcases a variety of forest, wetland, prairie, and lake ecosystems and terrains, containing more than 45,000 native and non-native trees. The park is free and open to the public for exercise, relaxation, and social gathering.
The park’s 22,000-square-foo.Dennis and Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center, originally constructed in 1892 as a streetcar pavilion, serves as an entrance point for visitors to the park, offering a banquet facility, meeting rooms, locker rentals, and an information desk staffed by volunteers from the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. The Center’.Forest Park Cafe offers light American breakfast and lunch fare, and it.Variety Wonderland Playground serves as a safe play space for children of all ability levels. The Center also serves as a trailhead for the park’s Dual Path system, which offers hard paved and soft thatched pathways for exploration and exercise, and offers bike rentals through it.World’s Fair Bike Rental service.
Five major cultural St. Louis cultural institutions are located within the grounds of Forest Park, including the Saint Louis Art Museum, founded in 1881, which showcases a collection of more than 35,000 works of art from around the world. Notable holdings include classical European works by master artists such as Picasso, Monet, and van Gogh, a substantial collection of World War II-era German works, and a rotating Currents contemporary art series. Founded in 1866, the Missouri History Museum showcases the collections of the Missouri Historical Society, offering a variety of exhibits on the state’s social and cultural history, including artifacts connected to the World’s Fair, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the historic transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh. The park’s most-visited attraction, the Saint Louis Zoo, showcases a collection of more than 18,000 animals from around the world along with a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital. The Saint Louis Municipal Opera Theater, typically referred to as the Muny, presents seven musical theater productions throughout its summer season, and the Saint Louis Science Center features a historic planetarium facility, an Exploradome educational center, and 300,000 square feet of science and history-themed exhibits for young visitors. Other facilities within the park include the Jewel Box Art Deco-style greenhouse, the Dwight Davis Tennis Center, the Steinberg Skating Rink, the Forest Park Golf Course, and the preserved histori.World’s Fair Pavilion.
Throughout the summer months, the Forest Park Trolley allows visitors to hop on and off at all of the park’s attractions for a flat one-day ticket price. A variety of nature-themed educational programming is offered at the park for visitors of all ages, including guided nature walk tours, birdwatching courses, children’s educational workshops and classroom outreach programs, and the Nature Works high school initiative. A number of annual public special events are also held at the park and its facilities throughout the year, including the Fair Saint Louis, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, and the U.S. Bank Wild Lights holiday lights walk-through event.
5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis, MO 63112, Phone: 314-367-7275