Luther Ely Smith
American lawyer (1873-1951)
Luther Ely Smith (June 11, 1873 – April 2, 1951) was a St. Louis, Missouri lawyer and civic booster. He has been described by the National Park Service as the "father of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial," which was renamed as the Gateway Arch National Park in 2018. In the 1930s, he conceived of the idea of a memorial to President Thomas Jefferson in St. Louis, the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and opening of the West through the city. He chaired the Association to develop the memorial for nearly 15 years, every year but one from 1934 through 1949, after the design competition had been completed and the winner Eero Saarinen selected for his "Gateway Arch". Construction of the Gateway Arch started in 1963, after Smith's death; it fulfilled his vision of a symbol of the city to represent its role with the American West.
Early life
Luther Ely Smith was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. He attended prep school at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts graduating in 1890; Amherst College, where he was a classmate of Harlan F. Stone, future Chief Justice of the United States; and a year ahead of Calvin Coolidge and Dwight W. Morrow. He graduated in 1894 and earned a law degree at Washington University School of Law in 1897.
The public source identifies “Luther Ely Smith” as american lawyer (1873-1951). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Luther, Smith and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1877830. VIAF identifies the subject as 55385344. The Library of Congress control number is n00113356. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1873, 1951, 2018 and 1934.
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This entry incorporates text from “Luther Ely Smith” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.