08/25/2026
Have you been to the top?
Many parks have hiking trails and walking paths. Quite a few parks have bike paths and shuttle routes. A few parks even have trains and boats. But only one park has a custom-made, one-of-a-kind tram system!
The Gateway Arch tram system was designed in two weeks in 1960 by a man named Dick Bowser, a 38-year-old elevator mechanic who took on the design challenge after a chance meeting with a friend led to an introduction to Eero Saarinen, the architect of the Arch. Bowser explored multiple different options for transportation to the top of the Arch - including elevators, escalators, and a Ferris wheel - before finally settling on the hybrid elevator/Ferris wheel train of tram capsules that still crawl up and down the Arch to this day.
The ride to the top of the Arch is as iconic today as it was when the first trams went to the top in 1967. Learn more about the tram system and book your tickets to the top at www.nps.gov/jeff/planyourvisit/tram-system
photo: NPS photo from the archives, illustration warning visitors that the tram capsule will rotate
