urbanSTL

No drowning Louis and Clark statue?! Or are they completely underwater by now?

I attended the CityArchRiver Report to the Community April 16th. What did we think of the new museum display plan from David Donoghue of Haley Sharpe Design? I thought it was OK, but seemed pretty casual with the separate pods -- not an attraction by itself. Casually educational, I guess.

I think the Park Service needs to get something (on permanent loan) in the Museum that would make it a destination by itself, even if the Arch wasn't there.

Three suggestions:

1. One of the original hand written copies of the U.S. Constitution. With the Louisiana purchase, this document suddenly became the law land for St. Louis and all of the Western land. It would take some investment in document protection, but shouldn't people who live in the Midwest and never travel to D.C. get to see an original U.S. Constitution?

2. Original Journals and maps of Lewis and Clark. A few portions were on display at the History Museum a few years ago in a traveling exhibit, I believe. Not sure who owns them now, but wouldn't the Museum Arch be a fine place to lay them out for the public to view?

3. Louisiana Purchase Treaty. Why is it only allowed to stay buried in the Archives in D.C.? What more logical place to display the treaty, with Napoleon's and Jefferson's signatures, that doubled the size of the U.S.

Any other suggestions of objects or documents that alone would make you want to visit the Arch Museum?

We need our version of the Liberty Bell.

roger wyoming II wrote:^ I'd love to see more on the French/Creole city. For example, a full-scale replica of the Auguste Chouteau house; however, as it was as large as Mount Vernon and Monticello (in fact, one of the 3 largest private residences of the time in the country) I doubt there'd be room! I do understand that there will be some interactive simulation of what the grounds looked like during this time and I think maybe up until 1850's-ish but not sure about early 20th Century.

Edit: Gary, that is a great idea about historic documents.... I'll dwell on this a bit and make some inquiries but I think this is something that our congressional delegation will have to push. At least a temporary exhibit of the Lousiana Purchase and other original documents for next year's 250th would be awesome followed by permanent residence at the expanded Museum of Westward Expansion.... fit a cubby hole in by the closet for a National Archives field office if need be to make it kosher.

Part of Saarinen's first design for the Arch was to rebuild a little working colonial St. Louis village with reclaimed structures from around the region to the south of the Arch,

Great idea Gary. Along with the Library of Congress and Smithsonian, the St. Louis Mercantile Library could be a good place to find relevant artifacts and documents. Some of the items in their collection include: A portrait of Auguste Chouteau from 1810, a portrait of William Clark from 1820, and a death mask of Napoleon from 1830 (a bit oddly 9 years after his demise). Also, Daniel Boone emigrated to Missouri before the purchase, so many of his artifacts/documents could be relevant to the museum.

Your idea to have the treaty itself on display is both brilliant and a no brainer. Any original correspondence between Jefferson and Lewis and/or Clark would be great as well.

Perhaps it would be asking Uncle Sam for too much, but could McCaskill and Co. try to make the museum an official Smithsonian Institute Museum of Westward Expansion, with full access to the national collection? New York has Smithsonian's American Indian Museum and National Design Museum. No reason St. Louis couldn't host a branch of the S.I. as well.

Presbyterian wrote:

roger wyoming II wrote: ... For example, a full-scale replica of the Auguste Chouteau house ...

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ances ... nsion.html

It would be great to re-build a replica of this house. Great Idea. The link shows that it was at Market, Main, Walnut, and Second Streets -- the entire block. (Main is now 1st Street.) So that would have put it between the Old Cathedral and the South Leg of the Arch. I'm not sure it would be that intrusive if it was rebuilt just East of the Old Cathedral.

We heard at the Report to the Community that visitors will no longer be allowed to enter the Arch Museum at either of the Arch leg entrances. They can only exit there. So this might be a nice structure along the long outdoor walk back.

^Candygram.

I don't understand how pedestrians will get across what will be an even busier 4th street to get to the pedestrian land bridge over depressed lanes. When does construction for the land bridge over 4th Street occur? Will we demo the courthouse for a second land bridge?

Alex Ihnen wrote:^ Glad someone else notices this. It's being taken as fact by nearly everyone that there will now be unimpeded access to the Arch grounds from the city...

What additional traffic on 4th?

Traffic to Downtown from I-44/I-70 will have three options:
-Existing Downtown/Arch exit which will in the future direct you to Walnut Street/Market Street and Downtown
-New Washington Ave exit for Wash Ave corridor, Landing, Arch Grounds (temporarily), and North Downtown.
-New Washington Ave exit and immediately using 'Texas Turnaround' to head south on Memorial for Downtown.

In essence, the three options will allow for people to more 'efficiently' access Downtown than taking one exit for all of Downtown. As well, the only traffic traveling north on 4th would be those already traveling north on 4th and those turning north onto 4th from Market, not every person traveling to Downtown as some may think.

http://www.modot.org/stlouis/news_and_i ... sId=187076

Prepared by Andrew Gates 314/453-1808

July 10, 2013 08:16 AM
MoDOT awards Park Over the Highway contract to KCI
ST. LOUIS - The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded the contract to construct the Park Over the Highway project in downtown St. Louis to KCI Construction Company yesterday.

KCI Construction Company's bid of $26.4 million was the lowest of the six bids the commission received for the project.

Construction on the project is anticipated to begin in August, with work near the Martin Luther King bridge. Details on the exact schedule and impacts of construction will be released as they become available.

The project is expected to be complete in July 2015. For more details on the Park Over the Highway project, visit the project web page at: http://www.modot.org/stlouis/major_proj ... ighway.htm.

-RBB

Saw this image in the Post today in the piece about today's groundbreaking. Is this new? Notice the canopies for the pedestrian walkway on the Pine and Walnut bridges over the depressed lanes.


http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 97c0d.html