ĔĒ stlmag.com July 2019 Photography by James M. Carrington, courtesy of the Missouri History Museum
Some people got their first look at the Arch on the Fourth of July in 1964, before it was even fin-
ished, its two legs standing unconnected. People waited for the fireworks in woven lawn chairs,
drinking Bud from aluminum coolers and listening to the ball game on transistors. By 1969 , the
patriotic event drew hundreds of thousands, and Famous-Barr orchestrated a whole show in the
air and on the water. There were two water-ski shows performed by the Alton Water Ski Club. F-100
fighter jets zoomed overhead, the Army’s Golden Knights parachuted from planes, and a man per-
formed tricks on a trapeze suspended from a helicopter. Everyone was there, though, for the fire-
works. Downtown Inc. promotions director Polly Bangert (a frustrated poet if we’ve ever seen one)
noted that they were choreographed by Henry P. Fabricius, whose family had shot off the fireworks
for the opening of the Eads Bridge. She then previewed the show: “You’ll see magnificent spider-like
forms with small spider bursts at ends of each 24 points projecting from large central figures...” But
the most exciting part? Free parking. —STEFENE RUSSELL
ANGLES SNAPSHOT
MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 1969$Ų 5Ų *Ų+1Ų!!Ų