I'm just west of Warren on Route 6 and I’m standing beside a replica of the Gateway Arch. I’ve driven by this 14 x 14 foot arch many times. Why is something like this in Warren?

I’m told the “Baby Arch” is a reminder to those who drive along Route 6 that hard-working people from a manufacturing plant in Warren fabricated the stainless steel used to erect the giant Gateway Arch in the early 1960s. 80 percent of the steel used to construct the arch was fabricated in Warren at the now closed Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel plant. Ed Atwood is a longtime member of Boilermakers Local 659. He remembers it was a big deal to the employees when they learned they had that contract.

"This is something!, he recalls. “The Gateway to the West being built in Warren, PA!”

Ed believes it always should be a big deal to people from Warren County. Ed didn't work on the project but he has been instrumental in making sure people remember that Warren played such a major role in the construction of the Gateway Arch. In 2017, he led the way in the effort to get this replica Gateway Arch erected in front of the Warren County Visitors Bureau on busy Route 6. Every year, he organizes a reunion of former Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel employees who worked on the Gateway Arch project in the 60s. This year's reunion is October 28 at the replica arch.

"We're going to be gone. If you want something to live on, you have to put it where everybody can see it,” Ed says.

And see it they do. Motorists see the "Baby Arch" and stop inside the visitors center where they are given a brochure that explains Warren's connection to the big arch in St. Louis. They can even buy a souvenir shot glass. Lisa Card is the administrative assistant at the visitors bureau. She says she's had people stop in from St. Louis.

"They stop. They come in. They hit the brakes because they see that arch. They come in and they say, ‘Why is that here?’ And I tell them “Well, this is where it was built.” They are surprised and intrigued,” says Lisa.

Another replica arch is proudly located in downtown Warren in front of the Chamber of Business and Industry. This arch was discovered by surprise in storage at the closed-down Pittsburgh-Des Moines plant. Savannah Casey is the Director of Operations at the Chamber. She explains the history of that miniature arch to visitors that stop by.

"From my understanding, the guys that built the arch, the bigger arch, created this replica of the “Little Arch” out of the material that was left over,” she says.

The public is invited to attend the reunion celebration at the Visitors Bureau on Route 6 in Warren. It will be held on Monday, October 28, at 10 am.

250 workers from Warren fabricated the steel for the Gateway Arch. It was then shipped piece- by- piece to St. Louis. ###