St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 71

SECTION everyday Oct. 27, 1985 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH MIM (OIF lilHIl i ifiHiE Tfiffj- nTiTHH i i ii Wt Willi iTPfl'ME i i D. KeslerPost-Dispatch I By Patricia Corrigan Of th Post-Dispatch Staff HAT DO YOU GIVE a glistening 17.246-ton stainless steel monument on the 20th anniversary of Its completion? The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is giving a parry. It's open house at the Gateway Arch from 9 a m.

to 6 p.m. today. The tram ride to the top Is free, as is admis According to the record. Luther Ely Smith called Edna Gellhorn one day in 1933 and asked her to meet him at his office in St Louis. Smith was a lawyer; Gellhorn was a civic leader and suffragist Smith had recently visited the construction site of the George Rogers Clark Memorial at Vlncennes, and it had occurred to him that St Louis should have some sort of memorial to the opening of the West Gellhorn met with Smith and later recalled, "His big idea was only to somehow memorialize St Louis' role as the Gateway to the West.

He had nothing definite in mind, but we decided then and there that it should be something permanent and suitable, not a parade, not a fair." The two met with then Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann to discuss Smith's proposal. The mayor was willing to pursue the matter, and he suggested that together they hold a third meeting. The 19 men and one woman (Gellhorn) who attended that meeting in the early spring of 1934 became the nucleus of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (JNEMA). According to an article in the Post-Dispatch on Oct 31.

1965, talk of cleaning up the riverfront first began in 1898. Thirty years later, a $50 million proposal to do just that was unveiled by the city government No further action was taken until Dickmann encouraged Smith to look into the possibility of a memorial. Outside the JNEMA (called "Jenny May" committee. Smith's idea was not universally acclaimed. In fact some members of the St Louis business See ARCH, Page 12 sion to the mpvie "Monument to a Dream." which tells the story of the construction of the Arch.

And arch-shaped cakes will be served from 1 to 5 p.m. 'We're hoping a lot of people who haven't been to the Arch since the topping-out ceremony 20 years ago will come down and join our anniversary celebration." said Jerry Schober. superintendent of the memorial. What about the rest of us? What about the countless St Louisans who live with the Arch every day those of us who always see it peeking above and around buildings, no matter where we are. and who note whether it appears gold or pewter or bronze or ebony? What can we do to celebrate? We can remember the story of how the Arch came to be built And as the King In "Camelot" instructed the boy: "Ask every person if he's heard the story, and tell It strong and clear if he has not".