we are in the museum of westward expansion, which is the main museum here at jefferson national expansion memorial. story oflly tells the the settlement of the west. we are underground, directly below the st. louis arch. toginally, there were going be surface buildings that would have house museums, restaurant -- complexes and things like that, but the museum that runs the site and the architect both thought the arch would be better served to stand alone, to be unrivaled by anything else. they decided to put everything underground, all the infrastructure to run the arch, all the visitor facilities would be beneath the ground. that is how this museum came to be located where it is. beneath where the arch is. in terms of what the museum has to offer, it tells a story of westward expansion during the 19th century. concentric rings that are almost like ripples in a pond as though you have dropped a stone into the pond and the ripples emanate outward. same thing here starting with our statue of thomas jefferson and extending through the 19th century. ring is 1800. the last one is 1900. our current muse

we are in the museum of westward expansion, which is the main museum here at jefferson national expansion memorial. it basically tells the story of the settlement of the west. we are underground, directly below the st. louis arch. originally, there were going to be surface buildings that would have house museums, restaurant competences -- complexes and things like that, but the museum that runs the site and the architect both thought the arch would be better served to stand alone, to be unrivaled by anything else. they decided to put everything underground, all the infrastructure to run the arch, all the visitor facilities would be beneath the ground. that is how this museum came to be located where it is. beneath where the arch is. in terms of what the museum has to offer, it tells a story of westward expansion during the 19th century. concentric rings that are almost like ripples in a pond as though you have dropped a stone into the pond and the ripples emanate outward. that is the same thing here starting with our statue of thomas jefferson and extending through the 19th century. the first ring

. >> we are in the museum of westward expansion, the main museum at jefferson national expansion memorial thes the story settlement of the american west jarring the 19th century. we are underground directly below the arch. originally, there were going to be surface buildings that would have housed museums and restaurant complexes and things like that. but the national park service which runs the site and the archtect both thought the would be better served to standalone, to be unrivaled by anything else. so they decided to put everything underground, all the infrastructure to run the arch, all of the visitor facilities would be beneath the ground. that is how this museum came to beneathed where it is, the arch. in terms of what this museum has itoffer, our current museum, tells a capsule story of westward expansion during the 19th century. it is laid out with rings of time above our heads. concentric rings that are almost like ripples in a pond as though you have drop a stone into a pond and ripples emanate outward. that is the same thing that happens here starting with our statue of thom

we are in the museum of westwood expansion, which is the main museum here at jefferson national expansion memorial. it basically tells the story of the settlement of the american west during the 19th century. we are actually underground, directly below the 630-foot stainless steel arch. originally, there were going to be surface buildings that would have house museums and restaurant complexes and things like that, but the national parks service, which runs the architect both thought the arch would be better served to stand alone, to be unrivaled by anything else, so they decided to put everything underground, all the .nfrastructure to run the arch all of the visitor facilities would be beneath the ground. that is how this museum came to be located where it is. is.ath where the arch in terms of what this museum has to offer, our current museum, it tells a capsule story of westwood expansion during the 19th century. it is actually laid out with above ourime that are heads. concentric rings that are almost like ripples in time, as though you have dropped a stone into a pond, and the ripples emanate o

the competition was for jefferson national expansion memorial which was a national park service site founded by a presidential proclamation to commemorate st. louis's role in the westward expansion in the united states. so 12 years after the founding of the park, an architectureal competition was held. 40 city blocks were torn down, erased of its original buildings to make way for the memorial on the st. louis river front. each architect who submitted a design proposal would do any he or she wanted. it could be a huge sculpture or anything they wanted it to be. some people put a big kind of rectangular block or something. he decided to go within an arch and it was only after he designed if arch that he realized it forms a gateway so it is proposal appropriate for st. louis's role as a gateway to have a giantic gateway on the river front. it is made out of stainless steel on the outside and on the inside it is 3.25 carbon steel. so basically you have a sandwich. in the lower portions it is filled in with concrete. in the upper portions it is reinforcing rods that keep the sections apar

we are in the museum of westward expansion, which is the main museum here at jefferson national expansion memorial. it basically tells the story of the settlement of the west. we are underground, directly below the st. louis arch. originally, there were going to be surface buildings that would have house museums, restaurant competences -- complexes and things like that, but the museum that runs the site and the architect both thought the arch would be better served to stand alone, to be unrivaled by anything else. they decided to put everything underground, all the infrastructure to run the arch all the visitor facilities would be beneath the ground.