Luther Ely Smith Square

Luther Ely Smith Square is the landscaped approach between downtown, the Old Courthouse, and the west entrance of the Gateway Arch visitor center. The square bridges I-44, so it works as a useful walk into the grounds and a short place to pause. Picnic areas and more than 300 feet of benches give you room to sit among the lawns and plantings.

The flagpole along Fourth Street is an easy meeting point and a good place to begin a walk around the Arch grounds. From the square, the lawn and paths frame the Arch or Old Courthouse for a photo; there is no separate hike to reach those views. Accessible visitor drop-offs are identified at Market Street and Memorial Drive, though the square's exact path grades are not documented in the visitor guidance reviewed.

The CityArchRiver redesign carried the square over I-44 to connect downtown with the Arch grounds. The planting added 220 trees, compared with 20 before, and a 37,000-gallon rainwater tank. Sitting areas use permeable decomposed granite, so the paths, lawn, and planted edges are part of a redesigned urban park rather than a leftover strip beside the highway.

Luther Ely Smith (1873–1951) was a St. Louis lawyer and civic booster who proposed a riverfront memorial to Thomas Jefferson. After seeing the deteriorating waterfront from a train in November 1933, he envisioned a park that would honor the city and revive the riverfront. His proposal led to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, established in 1934; Smith served as its president from 1934 to 1949, except for one year.