The St. Louis Arch, in the “gateway to the west,” was build right here in Warren, Pennsylvania.

Many of the original workers are still here in Warren.

Pittsburgh De Moines Steel Company (PDM) provided the steel for the project and members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermaker (Local 659) provided the work to turn that steel into history. Over 80 percent of the above-ground portions of arch itself was made at PDM in Warren.

For fifty years, those welders, fitters, fabricators, engineers, and loaders had been forgotten in the history of the famous monument. It wasn’t until November of 2014 that a small contingent of the arch’s original creators got to see their work in person, when Boilermakers International sponsored their trip to St. Louis to visit the monument.

Although the fruits of their labor stand hundreds of miles away in Missouri, the group of original workers from Warren have worked hard to bring the “baby arch” to Warren County, to commemorate their achievement and bring awareness to the St. Louis Arch’s local roots.

While the baby arch is now at the Warren County Visitor’s Bureau building in Starbrick, the Committee of Retired Boilermakers said that it’s going to take about $3,000 more to finish the concrete underneath the arch and finish the project up entirely.

For more information on the baby arch project and to make a donation, visit www.babyarch.org.