Jefferson National Expansion Administrative History

¹Smith to Drury, 19 October 1946, JNEMA.

²Smith to Joseph D. Nunan, Jr., 28 November 1944 JNEMA; George Schomman to Smith, 30 December 1944, JNEMA; Smith to Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 6 February 1945, JNEMA; Joseph D. Neman, Jr. [sic] to Smith, 10 March 1945, JNEMA.

³Drury to Smith, 24 January 1946, JNEMA.

⁴Aloys P. Kaufman to Smith, 16 October 1946, JNEMA.

⁵Kaufman to Spotts, 22 June 1946, JNEMA; Smith to Hillory Tolson, 9 July 1946, JEFF; Memorandum, Peterson for Superintendent Spotts, 23 May 1946, JEFF.

⁶Smith to Kaufman, 16 January 1946, JNEMA; "Meeting Minutes of the Coordinating Committee," Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, 27 December 1946, typed minutes, JNEMA.

⁷Memorandum, Demaray for Director NPS, 3 July 1947, JEFF.

⁸Milton M. Kinsey to Smith, 3 October 1947, JNEMA; George Howe to Smith, 8 January 1948, JNEMA.

⁹Spotts to Warner Fuller, 4 September 1946, JEFF; P.J. Watson, Jr. to Spotts, 18 September 1946, JEFF; Spotts to Watson, 19 September 1946, JEFF.

¹⁰Ingram F. Boyd to Smith, 6 December 1944, JNEMA; Boyd was Smith's son-in-law.

¹¹Smith to Max O'Rell Truitt, 17 October 1944, JNEMA. Smith tried to obtain the financial backing of the Astor family by appealing to their sense of family fur trade history. In Smith's opinion, if Vincent Astor contributed $200,000 he would be helping to create something more far-reaching than John D. Rockefeller's Williamsburg. Astor did not contribute. Smith to Charles S. Whitman, 20 October 1944, Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: W miscellaneous, Missouri Historical Society (hereafter cited as MHS); Smith to Whitman, 31 October 1944, Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: W miscellaneous, MHS.

¹²St. Louis Star-Times, 26 March 1945; Sidney R. Baer to W.L. Hemingway, 14 May 1945, JNEMA; A.P. Kaufman to Smith, 19 June 1945, JNEMA.

¹³A.P. Kaufman to Smith, 19 June 1945, JNEMA.

¹⁴James L. Ford to Kaufman, 21 June 1945, JNEMA; Smith to Gale F. Johnston, 13 May 1946, JNEMA; I.F. Boyd, Jr. to Ford, 22 May 1946 Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition, MHS.

¹⁵Ford to Boyd, 23 May 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS.

¹⁶Boyd to Joseph Sunnen, 29 May 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition, MHS; Charles Caspari, Jr. to Harry Matthews [sic], 6 June 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers; Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS; Mathews to Caspari, 10 June 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS.

¹⁷Ford to Smith, 28 June 1946, JNEMA; a list of the underwriters: Ingram Boyd - $4,000, Hugh H.C. Weed - $4,000, Fred Gerber - $4,000, Carl F.G. Meyer - $4,000, Eugene & Marguerite Pettus - $4,000, XYZ (anonymous) - $4,000, Smith - $17,000. Smith to W.L. Hemingway, 22 June 1946, JNEMA.

¹⁸Boyd to Frank Mayfield, 6 December 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition, MHS; St. Louis Star-Times, 10 January 1947; "Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association," 13 February 1947, typed minutes, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS. Some of the larger contributions: Associated Retailers of St. Louis - $57,000, May Department Stores Co. - $10,000, Boyd-Richardson Co. - $4,000, Clearing House Association - $15,000, twenty-one downtown buildings - $28,540, St. Louis Public Service Co. - $7,500, Union Electric Co. - $5,000, International Shoe Co. - $5,000, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. - $5,000, Edgar Queeney - 45,000, Harry B. Matthews - $5,000.

¹⁹[Louis La Beaume] to President Roosevelt [10 June 1943], unsent draft, JNEMA; Report, Smith to Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 4 November 1944, JNEMA; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 January 1945. In accordance with the current political philosophy of a "Good Neighbor Policy," Smith proposed opening the competition to qualified architects of all Western Hemisphere countries. He also wanted to open it to all qualified architects in the armed forces, although he realized that they would be working "under conditions of extreme difficulty." See "Minutes of Informal Luncheon Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association," 16 September 1943, JNEMA.

²⁰Ickes to Smith, 3 May 1945, JEFF; D'Arcy to Smith, 9 May 1945, JNEMA; D'Arcy to Smith, 6 August 1945, JNEMA. William D'Arcy's view of those who offered alternative plans for the riverfront: "As long as there is a vacancy on the riverfront ... and the public does not know in more concrete terms just what we are going to do with it, there will be suggestions from time to time as to how they think it should be used. Man is still free to let his mind wander and his tongue wag and whether he is a statesman or a hobo he likes to put his ideas forward even though he may be talking up the side of a mountain." D'Arcy to Smith, 22 June 1945, JNEMA.

²¹Louis La Beaume to William C. D'Arcy, 10 October 1945, JNEMA.

²²Memorandum, Spotts to Director NPS, 8 February 1946, JEFF.

²³Drury to Smith, 26 February 1946, JNEMA. Drury warned against letting the architectural aspects of the memorial dominate the plan, which might result in delegating the historical aspects to a subordinate position. "The right conception would, in the course of providing the interpretive facilities, create the memorial."

²⁴Smith to Drury, 12 March 1946, JNEMA; Memorandum, Spotts to Director NPS, 13 March 1946, JEFF; Drury to Smith, 1 April 1946, JEFF; Drury to Smith, 14 May 1946, JNEMA; Drury to Smith, 7 June 1946, JNEMA.

²⁵Memorandum, Hillory Tolson to Superintendent, 17 June 1946, JEFF; Tolson to Smith, 26 June 1946, JNEMA; Drury to Smith, 13 July 1946, JNEMA; Outline Draft [of competition], 10 July 1946, JEFF.

²⁶George Howe to Smith, 29 August 1946, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Riverfront JNEM file, MHS.

²⁷Ibid.

²⁸George Howe, Interim Progress Report on the Preparation of the Program for the National Competition to Select an Architect and a Tentative Design for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition January 19th to February 10th, 1947, 11 February 1947, typed report, pp. 1-3, JNEMA; "Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association," 28 February 1947, typed minutes, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS.

²⁹Smith to D'Arcy, 1 February 1947, JNEMA; I.F. Boyd, Jr. to Chester C. Davis, 11 March 1947, Luther Ely Smith Papers, file: Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition, MHS; I.F. Boyd, Jr. to Morton J. May, 13 March 1947, Luther Ely Smith Papers, Jefferson Memorial River Front Competition file, MHS; News Release from the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, 7 September 1947, JNEMA.

³⁰Hillory Tolson to Smith, 20 March 1947, JNEMA; the representatives: Director Newton Drury, Regional Director Lawrence Merriam, Chief of Development Thomas Vint, Acting Chief Historian Herbert Kahler, Chief Naturalist Carl Russell, Assistant Director Tolson.

³¹Drury to Smith, 14 April 1947, JNEMA; Julius A. Krug to Smith, 17 April 1947, JEFF.

³²Krug to Smith, 8 May 1947, JEFF.

³³Chester C. Davis to Howe, 29 July 1947, JNEMA.

³⁴"Minutes of the Meeting of the U.S. Territorial Expansion Commission," 28 May 1947, typed minutes, p. 3, JEFF; St. Louis Star-Times, 7 June 1947.

³⁵Architectural Competition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Program St. Louis, Missouri 1947, p. 4, JNEMA.

³⁶Ibid; pp. 4-5.

³⁷Ibid; pp. 14-15.

³⁸Ibid; pp. 5, 8-9.

³⁹St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 4 September 1947.

⁴⁰Charles Nagel, Jr., A Sketch Report of the Jury Proceedings, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 23-26 September 1947, JNEMA; Louis La Beaume, Jefferson National Memorial Competition - First Stage, n.d., JNEMA; Proceedings of the Jury of Award for the Architectural Competition Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, n.d., JNEMA; "Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association," 26 September 1947, typed minutes, JNEMA. George Howe opened the discussion as to the possibility of releasing the names of the five winners and designs for publication. He believed this would stimulate public interest through the press. Several of the jury members thought anonymity could not be maintained while others warned against changing the program at the last minute. After consulting legal advice Howe stated that the program could be modified if everyone agreed. Louis La Beaume did not, and stated he would resign if the program's terms were modified. By the third day of deliberation, pressure regarding anonymity was removed and the conditions of the program prevailed. La Beaume, Jefferson . . ., JNEMA; n.a., Proceedings. . ., JNEMA. The jury members and their positions at the time of the competition: S. Herbert Hare, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Kansas City, Mo., Member of the American Institute of Planners; Fiske Kimball, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, (AIA) Philadelphia, Pa., Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Louis La Beaume, Fellow of the AIA, St. Louis, Mo., Associate of the National Academy of Design; Charles Nagel, Jr., Member of the AIA, Brooklyn, N.Y., Director of the Brooklyn Museum; Richard J. Neutra, Member of the AIA, Los Angeles, CA, Chairman of the California State Planning Board; Roland A. Wank, Member of the AIA, New York, N.Y., Consulting Chief Architect for the Tennessee Valley Authority; William W. Wurster, Member of AIA, Cambridge, Mass., Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

⁴¹Comments of S. Herbert Hare on Designs Selected by the Jury for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association Competition, n.d., JNEMA; [Roland Wank] untitled descriptions of chosen entries, n.d., JNEMA; LaBeaume Jefferson . . ., JNEMA; Nagel, A Sketch. . . JNEMA.

⁴²Charles Nagel, Report of the Jury of Award to the Professional Adviser on the First Stage of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition, n.d., JNEMA; St. Louis Post Dispatch, 27 September 1947.

⁴³George Howe, Second Stage Addenda to the Program, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition, n.d., pp. 1-3, JNEMA.

⁴⁴Memorandum, Spotts to Director NPS, 20 October 1947, JNEMA; Memorandum, Drury to Secretary (of the Interior), 17 November 1947, JNEMA; Chapman to Edward D. Dail, 18 November, 1947, JNEMA.

⁴⁵[George Howe] to Eero Saarinen, 29 January 1948, JNEMA. So many government officials attended the dinner that the wives of the five competitors were not invited because of lack of space. (This, of course, with the exception of Eero Saarinen's wife Lily Swann Saarinen, a noted sculptor who was part of the five-person winning team; she attended the banquet). Only two governors of states within the Louisiana Purchase (Wyoming, Arkansas) attended besides Missouri Governor Phil Donnelly. Donnelly to Smith, 6 February 1948, Phil M. Donnelly Papers, file No. 1169, WHMC.

⁴⁶Memorandum, George Howe to the Five Participants in the Second Stage of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition, 15 January 1948, JNEMA.

⁴⁷Lawrence Hill to George Howe, 25 October 1947, JNEMA; memorandum, Spotts for Director NPS, 9 February 1948, JEFF.

⁴⁸Charles Nagel, Jr. "Minutes of Meetings of Jury of Award in the 2nd Stage of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition," 17-18 February 1948, JNEMA. Eero Saarinen's design team: J. Henderson Barr, associate designer; Dan Kiley, landscape architect; Alexander Hayden Girard, painter; and Lily Swann Saarinen, sculptress. The other prize winners: Second Prize - Gordon A. Phillips, William Eng, architects; both of Champaign, Ill.; Third Prize - William N. Breger, Woodstock, N.Y., Caleb Hornbostel, New York City, George S. Lewis, New York City, architects; Runner-up - Harris Armstrong, Kirkwood, Mo., architect. Runner-up - T. Marshall Rainey, Cleveland, Ohio, architect. The runner-up awards were made simply in alphabetical order. The association kept many of the entry drawings for publicity purposes, returning only those whose designers asked for them. Still existent entries are in the JEFF archives.

⁴⁹Carl F.G. Meyer III, Report of the February 18th, 1948, Award Dinner Conducted by the JNEMA, n.d., JNEMA; Smith to Mr. & Mrs. Carl F.G. Meyer, 27 February 1948, JNEMA; Statler Hotel. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association Riverfront Prize Award Dinner, n.d., chronology of dinner proceedings, JNEMA.

⁵⁰Allan Temko, Eero Saarinen (New York: George Braziller, 1962), p. 18; telegram, Howe to Eliel Saarinen, 26 September 1947, JNEMA; Howe to Eero Saarinen, 29 September 1947, JNEMA. George Howe placed the blame for the mistake on his secretary, who allegedly took Eliel's name from the Saarinen letterhead. Eero Saarinen, born August 20, 1910, in Kirkkonummi, Finland, immigrated to the United States in 1923 with his family. His father Eliel was a leading architect, and after studies in Paris and the Yale School of Architecture, Eero joined his father's Architectural firm at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He served with the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C. during World War II. He was married twice, to Lily Swann Saarinen in 1939 and to Aline B. Louchheim in 1953. Besides the Gateway Arch, Saarinen's other major contributions to the field of architecture include the General Motors Technical Center, Warren, MI; the auditorium and chapel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Transworld Flight Center at Idlewild, later John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY; and the Dulles International Airport Terminal Building in Chantilly, VA. Saarinen was awarded several honorary degrees and was a fellow of both the American Institute of Architects and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The AIA posthumously awarded him its Gold Medal. Saarinen never saw the Arch completed, for he died after brain surgery on September 1, 1961, just when foundations were being poured. See Saarinen on His Work, ed. Aline B. Saarinen (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962), pp. 104-5.

⁵¹Temko, Eero Saarinen pp. 18-19; Saarinen, Saarinen p. 18; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 March 1948.

⁵²Saarinen, Saarinen p. 18; Eero Saarinen, A Tour Through the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, (extract from an address given at the Associated Retailers of St. Louis meeting, 29 April 1948), pp. 1-4, JNEMA; Saarinen's first major speech unveiling the fine details of the design was given to this group of St. Louis retailers.

⁵³Smith to Saarinen, 25 February 1948, JNEMA.

⁵⁴Saarinen to Smith, 1 March 1948, JNEMA; Saarinen to Smith 28 May 1948, JNEMA.

⁵⁵Saarinen to Smith, 28 May 1948, JNEMA.

⁵⁶The New York Times, 29 February 1948; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 26 February 1948.

⁵⁷Gilmore D. Clarke to William Wurster, 24 February 1948, JNEMA.

⁵⁸St. Louis Star-Times, 26 February 1948; New York Herald Tribune, 26 February 1948; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 26 February 1948.

⁵⁹William Wurster "Log of the week of 22 February - 28 February in regard to the prizewinning award for the Architectural Competition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial," 28 February 1948, p. 2, JNEMA; Statement by the Jury of Award on the Winning Designs in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition, n.d., JNEMA; New York Herald Tribune, 27 February 1948.

⁶⁰Saarinen to Edward Dail, 26 February 1948, JNEMA; Howard F. Baer to William H. Semsrott, 5 March 1948, JNEMA; Memorandum, Spotts to Director NPS, 26 February 1948, JEFF; Memorandum, Drury to Superintendent, JNEM, 18 March 1948, JNEMA.

⁶¹"Report of U.S. Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission Breakfast Meeting," 25 May 1948, typed meeting minutes, JEFF.

⁶²William E. Warne to Alben Barkley, 4 June 1948, JNEMA. Even though congressional financing would prove difficult to obtain, the association contributed $15,000 to the National Park Service for Saarinen's use in preparing preliminary designs and reports. Price, Waterhouse & Company audited the association's handling of the competition fund from 1945 to 1948. The audit showed the group kept well within their budget and conducted excellent record keeping. Price, Waterhouse donated their services as their contribution to the project. Price, Waterhouse & Co., Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association Competition Fund Report and Statement of Income and Expenditure for the Period from May 4 1945 to May 14 1948 inclusive, n.d., JNEMA.

⁶³Chester C. Davis to Smith, 12 April 1948, JNEMA; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 27 April 1948; Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association to Edward Dail, 20 April 1948, JNEMA.

⁶⁴La Beaume to Saarinen, Saarinen & Associates, 25 March 1948, JNEMA; J. Henderson Barr to La Beaume, 6 April 1948, JNEMA; Saarinen to Dail, 6 April 1948, JNEMA; Charles Nagle to Smith, 21 April, n.d., JNEMA.

⁶⁵Saarinen to Dail, 6 April 1948, JNEMA; Dail to Saarinen, 8 April 1948, JNEMA.

⁶⁶Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association to City Plan Commission, 24 August, 1948, JNEMA; Saarinen to Smith, 31 August 1948, JNEMA; St. Louis Real Estate Board to City Planning [sic] Commission, 14 September 1948, JNEMA; George Kempland to Smith, 21 September 1948, JNEMA; preliminary memorandum, Saarinen to Charles Nagel, Jr. and William Wurster, 19 October 1948, JNEMA. Saarinen proposed that apartments and hotels be built along Third Street, and that a shopping arcade be developed from Washington to Poplar Streets. He also recommended widening Clark, Elm, Pine, Olive, and Locust Streets. Eero Saarinen & William Wurster, Report on the Development of Land Surrounding the Jefferson National Memorial Park, St. Louis, Missouri, 14 December 1948, JEFF.

⁶⁷Memorandum, Hillory Tolson to Regional Director, 9 July 1948, JNEMA; Saarinen to Spotts, 14 August 1948, JNEMA; memorandum, Lawrence C. Merriam to Superintendent JNEM, 23 August 1948, JNEMA; memorandum, Demaray to Superintendent JNEM, 13 September 1948, JNEMA; memorandum, J.B. Rasbach for the Director NPS, 8 October 1948, JEFF; Spotts to Smith, 20 October 1948, JNEMA.

⁶⁸Memorandum, Howard Baker to Regional Director, 27 October 1948, JNEMA; Smith to Spotts, 2 November 1948, JNEMA.

⁶⁹Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, "Meeting Minutes of the Executive Committee," 29 November 1948, typed meeting minutes, JNEMA.

⁷⁰Ingram F. Boyd, Jr. to Members of the Executive Committee, 18 February 1948, JEFF.