Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-178

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (October 28, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, we take a ride on “The Arch”.  

Go West Young Man

There is an iconic monument celebrating the westward expansion of the US.  It is the Gateway Arch, on the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis.

Somewhat ironically or maybe appropriately, it was designed by a Finnish-American with the complex math needed for construction and functioning provided by a German-American. 

The Arch was finished on October 28, 1965 – 60 years ago, but it took another 18 months before the first tourist could reach its top via a unique monorail within the Arch.  The monorail takes off nearly vertically, then levels off on the top to let people disembark, then returns on the other side to a vertical position.

The Arch is primarily made of 900 tons of stainless steel.  It is a catenary arch, described by a hyperbolic cosine function, the most stable form of an arch, by geometry.

This pictorial map of Missouri is by Ruth White from 1938.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.