Eisenhower, who signed the order for the construction of the arch in 1954. The Secret Service has forbidden all presidents from ascending the Gateway Arch due to security concerns-it is, after all, a very tight, enclosed space. Presidents aren’t allowed to go to the top-except President Eisenhower. Since you’re not always looking at the arch straight on, you experience an illusion that it’s much taller than it is wide.ħ. Though it might not look like it, the arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide. The architects and their family had already had a Champagne celebration to toast the senior Saarinen when a telegram came in to correct the error. There was confusion over whether Eliel or Eero Saarinen won the design competition for the monument.īoth father and son entered the competition, and even though Eero was chosen as the winner, confused officials mistakenly told Eliel he had won. His auxiliary parachute didn’t deploy, and he fell to his death.Ĥ. The only death associated with the Gateway Arch was that of Kenneth Swyers, who in 1980 leaped from a plane, parachuted to the top of the arch, and attempted to BASE-jump to the ground.
But somehow, no one died during construction. With a difficult construction process that saw people working hundreds of feet in the air with no safety nets, it’s not too much of a surprise that the insurers expected there to be fatalities.
The insurance company for the project predicted that 13 workers would die during construction.