Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park - East St. Louis, IL Review

Opening on June 6, 2009 the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park is located in cash strapped E. St. Louis, IL.  But the question remains...what took so long?  Located across the Mississippi River from the Gateway Arch, it's not only a park, but an observation deck for viewing and photographing one of America's great landmarks.

So who was Malcolm W. Martin?  Copy & paste from the web site...

Malcolm W Martin was born in St. Louis in 1912. He graduated from Yale University in 1933 and St. Louis City College of Law in 1941. In 1941 he co-founded Martin, Peper, and Martin with his father and Chris Peper.  Shortly after founding the firm, the United States entered into World War Two.  Martin was drafted into the U.S. Army as a private, spending much of his service time in London. He was promoted to sergeant, and was later involved in planning the D-Day invasion at Normandy; he studied the tides of the English Channel to find the best place, time, and method for the ships to arrive on the beaches. These contributions led to his promotion to captain, and involvement in coordinating the ships on D-Day. He later described it as being a "super traffic cop.....with about 5,000 ships in the channel". For his contributions in planning and coordinating the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, he received a Bronze Star.

Martin's Mission

Before the arch was completed in 1965, Martin wanted to extend the surrounding park to encompass both sides of the river, and complete the arch's' architect Eero Saarinen's vision of the park.<a> Martin became chairman of the executive committee of the federal commission established in 1987 to plan the extension, and established the Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis. He organized and led the center, and used his money to purchase over thirty acres of land for the extension.</a>

Upon his death in 2004, Malcolm W. Martin donated over $5 million to the Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis to continue his mission. In addition he donated $200,000 each to the St. Louis Art Museum Foundation and the St. Louis Symphony Society.

Both Eero Saarinen (the architect of the Gateway Arch) and Malcolm W. Martin didn't live long enough to see their dreams come true.  How sad.  At least the park picked an appropriate opening day - June 6, 2009.  That was the 65 anniversary of D-Day, which Malcolm W. Martin helped plan so well.  Photos to the right were taken with a simple Olympus Infinity 80 35mm film camera.