The Lewis and Clark expedition is commemorated at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis in several ways. The site of the Memorial, which today surrounds the majestic Gateway Arch, was at one time the original City of St. Louis. It was in St. Louis that Meriwether Lewis contacted fur traders and explorers, who had made their way up the Missouri River during the preceding decade, to gain a better understanding of the area into which the expedition would travel during its first year. It was on the St. Louis riverfront, beneath where the Gateway Arch stands today, that Lewis and Clark completed their 8,000 mile Journey of Discovery on September 23, 1806.

Events in and Around St. Louis
Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail Information
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council Information

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
City of St. Louis in 1804 | Gateway Arch | William Clark's Museum
The Old Courthouse

The Museums
William Clark established a museum of American Indian artifacts next-door to his home in the 1810s, so it is fitting that the National Park Service continues this tradition with its underground Museum of Westward Expansion below the Arch. An exhibit on Lewis and Clark features reproduction items like those that they took on their journey, including a reproduction of a Jefferson Peace Medal. Another area, which covers the entire back wall of the museum, treats the expedition in great depth, featuring quotes from the journals and large color photomurals of areas through which the Corps of Discovery passed. The American Indian Peace Medal Exhibit consists of the largest single display of peace medals in the world, and includes original medals such as those employed by Lewis and Clark between 1804 and 1806 to extend U.S. diplomacy to western Indian tribes. A full-size animatronic figure of William Clark was installed in 1997. The figure moves and speaks like a living person, and helps describe the process of diplomacy between the United States and American Indian people. Ranger-led programs on Lewis and Clark are often presented in the museum.
The Jefferson National Expansion Historical Association, in their bookstore under the Arch, sells many books associated with the expedition, including copies of the journals and other scholarly works. Children's books are also available, and books on the American Indians encountered during the trip.

The Old Courthouse
Exhibits in the Old Courthouse, located two blocks from the Arch, include dioramas of the British-Indian attack on St. Louis in 1780, and the 1804 transfer ceremony, which includes a figure representing Meriwether Lewis. An exhibit on early St. Louis gives visitors an idea of the French character of the town Lewis and Clark left in 1804 and returned to in 1806. It was at the foot of the Gateway Arch on the riverfront that they completed their arduous 8,000 mile journey on September 23, 1806.