Complete overhaul of Arch museum planned

ST. LOUIS -- Renovating the Gateway Arch and the grounds around it means the Museum of Westward Expansion found underneath will be closed for two years starting Tuesday.

Once it reopens in 2017, visitors will see new, high-tech exhibits and a new entrance.

National Park Service staff will pack up the horse, bison, grizzly and talking animatronic robots, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Forty years have taken a toll on the stuffed animals, and Ann Honious, chief of museum services and interpretation, says they will not return.

"If you look closely at the horse, his ears have been reattached multiple times," she said.

Visitors shouldn't fret about too much change, though: The egg-shaped tram cars that take riders to the top of the Arch will remain largely unchanged and still run throughout the renovation.

Renovation plans call for new entrance that faces downtown, and consultants have rethought exhibits, which will incorporate video, audio, interactive computer experiences and other means to tell stories of the colony, frontier, the Mississippi River and the Arch.

"This is our chance to tell a new history of the United States and St. Louis' role in it," Honious said.

The estimated cost of $172 million is the largest component of the $380 million CityArchRiver renovation project. Taxpayers are covering $13 million through Proposition P sales tax passed two years ago; the National Park Service will add $4.5 million. Private contributions cover the rest.

Some recent visitors weren't anxious for change. Fred Appleby, 67, of Hazelwood, said he came down to see the museum in its current form one last time.

"It's sad for me," he said. "I liked it the way it was."