Jefferson National Expansion Administrative History

Museum of Westward Expansion

From its inception, the Museum of Westward Expansion (MWE) was intended to take an approach which contrasted with that of traditional museums. The objective was to create a museum that would " . . . impress upon the visitor the drama of the West as a personal experience, to depict in powerful and compelling fashion just what it meant to be one of the Americans who went west in the years between 1803 and 1890." To achieve this goal it was decided that the interpretive story should focus on the ordinary people involved in westward expansion. "Events" or "famous figures" were introduced only to provide the necessary historical context. [7]

In 1960, as the construction of the Gateway Arch became a reality, Superintendent George B. Hartzog, Jr., began to focus on the requirements for a Museum of Westward Expansion. Without a specific plan, but with a vision for the future, Hartzog asked Saarinen Associates to design a huge, empty underground space into the Arch construction plans. Ten years later, Hartzog, then serving as Director of the National Park Service, selected Aram Mardirosian and the Potomac Group of Washington, D.C. to design a museum to fit within that space. Mardirosian was an architect, not a museum planner, and therefore "was not hindered by tradition and preconception." [8]

The challenges were considerable, since an exhibit plan had to be devised for a pre-existing space which was complicated by a uniform grid of pillars, necessary to support the roof and earth above. The problems of designing the museum included telling the entire story of westward expansion while omitting less important elements and avoiding the creation of a typical display of artifacts, graphics and labels. [9]

Temporary exhibits on the American West were displayed in the Gateway Arch visitor center in the early 1970s. NPS photo.

Funding for museum construction was provided in 1974 from several sources, including Federal appropriations from Congress; revenue generated by the Bi-State Development Agency's operation of the Gateway Arch transportation system; the City of St. Louis, which shared one-fourth of the development costs of the Memorial; the Jefferson National Expansion Historical Association; and the Memorial Parking Lot, operated for the National Park Service by the City of St. Louis.

Museum Contract Manager Frank Phillips, a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service, was chosen to oversee construction and installation of the exhibits. Phillips, along with a committee of museum and media experts, visited potential contractors who were interested in the project, selecting the most qualified and negotiating a favorable contract with each. The Museum of Westward Expansion crowned Phillips' National Park Service museum building career, and he retired as planned on July 30, 1976, two years after starting the job and just days before completion.

The Museum of Westward Expansion was completed on August 10, 1976, with a dedication ceremony on August 23. The total cost of the museum was $3,178,000, [10] and when completed it was the largest museum in the NPS. [11] In a space nearly the size of a football field, twenty major themes relating to 19th-century American history were presented. Two hundred historic artifacts were used to illustrate the material culture of American Indians, soldiers, explorers, mountain men, miners, farmers, overlanders, and cowboys. None of the objects were labeled or explained with words. Artifacts were to be understood by association with hundreds of historic photographs and quotations from the people who made history. The museum featured huge black-and-white and color photomurals, giving visitors an immediate reference to the people, the environment, and the time period being discussed in a given area. [12]

Visitors entering the Museum of Westward Expansion were literally funneled down a short, narrowing corridor to stand beside a life-size bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson, which was at the center point, "ground zero," of the museum. From Jefferson, concentric half circles, each representing a decade of the 19th-century, fell away toward the distant photomurals on the back walls. Wedges within this huge half-circle carried the 20 major themes of the museum outward from Jefferson like the spokes of a wheel.

Visitors were given many options for viewing the exhibits through this museum design. They could choose a theme of personal interest and follow a wedge from Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to the dawn of the 20th-century. They might also choose a decade such as the 1840s, and follow the half circle around the museum to consider the interactions of various peoples during that time. Visitors might be attracted to the color photomurals, 15 feet high and 600 feet in total length, finding themselves suddenly immersed in the Lewis and Clark expedition, month by month, camp by camp. Still another visitor option was to start out along the history wall, a potpourri of 19th century facts arranged in the fashion of a huge time-line. Visitors enjoyed mounted animal specimens scattered throughout the museum, suddenly coming face to face with a huge bison bull, a longhorn steer, or beavers busily building a dam. The well-mounted skins of these and other animals gave the illusion of life, and portrayed some of the non-human contributors to Western history. A 21 screen audio-visual wall, 110 feet long with rear-projection screens 20 feet high, was built along the north side of the MWE. Approximately 750 slides were shown in a 13-minute program which gave an overview of Western history. [13]

Map of the Museum of Westward Expansion.

Mounted bison specimen, Museum of Westward Expansion, 1976. NPS photo.

Interpreting the Museum

The major management problem with this unique museum design was at the point where its strength became a weakness, as described in the original 1976 museum literature: "Visitors are not isolated from the exhibits by glass, walls or barriers. In this way it is hoped that they will become a part of their heritage. Risks are involved in this concept; too much touching can destroy objects. Park rangers are on duty in the museum to help remind visitors of this fact. Rangers also act as interpreters, providing information about individual objects as well as concepts and overviews of Western history." [14] This major duty was assumed by the interpretive division from 1976 onward. An average shift in the MWE for an interpretive ranger involved an unusual mix of dispensing historical information and protecting the resource through verbal reminders. "Roving the museum defines a fine line between interpretation and resource protection," said Chief of Museum Services and Interpretation Mark Engler. [15]

I believe our staff has struggled with this issue in the sense of wondering if we are interpreters or guards. This function is essential to the protection of the museum. I believe that good interpretation can incorporate a balance between the two. We have tried to stress the creative approaches to accomplishing this goal. We use things like puppets, and try to get the kids to "police their parents" in the respect of not touching items in the museum.

I am very comfortable with the wide-open concept of the museum, and would hate to see anything happen to it. The museum leaves room for us to expand upon sub-themes, as we have done with the Indian Peace Medal Exhibit. We will, I believe, be able to branch out in other directions. As we perform rehabs on the museum, we will constantly look for opportunities to tell more of the story. We will enhance our exhibits by preserving the artifacts in them, and expand on the themes to eventually include all the cultural groups involved in the settlement of the West. [16]

Visitor Center Rehabilitation

With visitor use patterns established in the Gateway Arch Visitor Center by the late 1980s, and new features such as the 70mm theater and American Indian Peace Medal Exhibit in progress, the superintendent and chief of interpretation began to discuss a more cohesive and unified design for this area. Mark Engler explained:

One of the major concerns of the people working at the Arch was the immediate disorientation of visitors as they enter the complex, and ways that we might be able to improve that situation. They felt it was important that the visitor feel a sense of security and orientation upon entering the building, and that the design should address visitor flow. We brought in Dan Quan Associates of San Francisco to look at the facility and create an interpretive lobby plan. The plan will look at general design issues, and lend an air of consistency to the entire visitor center. Some of the other projects discussed included the installation of a closed-circuit television camera at the top of the Arch, with a direct link to other gateway parks such as the Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate. A sign plan for the grounds will also be looked at, as well as new treatments for the theater entrances, executed in brick. The tram load zones will also receive new treatments, exhibits that tie humans and their environment directly together. This is another way of looking at management objectives, but on a much broader scale. We can represent them graphically in the design and layout of the Visitor Center. [17]

By 1991, this project was underway, with a master plan being written by Dan Quan. [18]

Old Courthouse Exhibit Galleries

Exhibits in the Old Courthouse which were created in the 1940s were revamped and expanded in the 1970s. A "living history fur trade room," "loom room," "pioneer cabin room," and an environmental education workshop-library were opened in August 1972. A reproduction of a 19th-century doctor/dentist's office was opened in the east wing of the first floor by the St. Louis Medical Society on February 5, 1975, and on June 8, 1976, the dedication and opening of a "St. Louis Room exhibit" took place, created with funds donated by the First National Bank of St. Louis. [19]

Despite these varied efforts at interpreting life in early St. Louis through exhibits, a unified group of displays with a common theme and design was needed for the Old Courthouse. The development of an Old Courthouse exhibit project began in the late 1970s, and JEFF and Regional Office staff members examined 12 different proposals by the end of 1978. Three of the firms who submitted proposals were chosen to develop preliminary plans. Of these, Aram Mardirosian's Potomac Group developed a design which best reflected the use of the Old Courthouse by making the building itself the main exhibit. In 1979 Mardirosian revised the plan after a staff review. [20] The 1970s era displays were removed by August 1980, leaving the Old Courthouse with virtually no exhibits for nearly six years. [21] As a stop-gap measure, Park Technician Nancy Hoppe designed a temporary display of historic photos of the Old Courthouse, which was installed in a room on the first floor. This display remained in place until the completion of the Mardirosian exhibits. [22]

Map of the Old Courthouse Exhibit Galleries.

The Old Courthouse exhibit project was completed in May 1986, when four new St. Louis history galleries opened. [23] In the old courtrooms of the south wing, displays with the themes "St. Louis: The Early Years (1764-1850)" and "St. Louis: Becoming a City (1850-1900)" were installed. The north wing galleries presented "St. Louis: Entering the 20th Century (1900-1930)" and "St. Louis Revisited (1930-Present)." Photo exhibits in the rotunda featured the history of the Old Courthouse and close-up views of the murals in the dome. Exhibits concerning the Dred Scott decision were installed in the west wing on the first floor, where the original courtroom in which the case was heard had been located. A room was dedicated to the display of the top five drawings from the 1947 architectural competition, from which the design for the Gateway Arch was selected. The new exhibits for the Old Courthouse were considered to be modern and fresh in concept. They featured reproduction artifacts and an open design similar to that of the MWE, which allowed the exhibits to be viewed free from the burden and obstruction of exhibit cases and glass barriers. The "Prologue" or "Mississippian Gallery," which described the lifestyle of the St. Louis area's pre-Columbian civilizations, was opened in September 1987, completing the new permanent exhibit plan. Air conditioning systems were installed by May 1988, to create a suitable environment for the new exhibits and a comfortable working situation for employees and volunteers, who due to the new open exhibit design had to be stationed in the galleries. Primary funding for the exhibits came from the park's development fund from Bi-State Development Agency. As a whole, the galleries presented a panoramic overview of the city's history, and helped make the Old Courthouse a cultural attraction. [24]

One of the new exhibits in the Old Courthouse, "St. Louis Revisited," featured portions of the historic Old Rock House, built in 1818. NPS photo by Al Bilger.

To complement the new exhibits, the information/orientation room on the East side of the building underwent major changes in 1985, with the addition of a large wooden information desk and an oval display rack to accommodate the growing number of sales items. A 1/4" transparent scale model of the Old Courthouse was installed, allowing interpreters and volunteers, through the use of fiber optics, to explain the changes in the building and its expansion over the years. [25] Gradually, the orientation room was usurped by sales space as the museum shop inventory grew. Eventually, orientation programs and visitor reception shifted to the rotunda. [26]