About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service® celebrated the iconic Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, Missouri, with a Priority Mail Express™ stamp. A sleek and towering structure, the Gateway Arch was built as a memorial to President Thomas Jefferson and the 19th-century traders and pioneers for whom St. Louis was the gateway to the West.
The stamp art depicts the majestic stainless-steel arch at sunset in its setting on the banks of the Mississippi River. Towering above the city’s skyline, the Gateway Arch is reflected in the rippling water below, where a barge passes by.
Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen designed the stainless-steel inverted catenary curve arch as a tribute to both the history of the Midwest and the modern age. The Gateway Arch stands 630 feet tall, with a 630-foot span between the outer edges of its triangular legs at ground level. It is designed to withstand wind speeds of more than 150 miles per hour and can sway up to 18 inches. The last piece of the arch was put into place on October 28, 1965, at which point it became the tallest memorial in the United States.
Designed by art director Greg Breeding, the stamp features a digital illustration created by Dan Cosgrove.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist and Typographer
Dan Cosgrove
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Dan Cosgrove graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1978 with a major in graphic design. After briefly working for the National Park Service in Denver and as a designer at Cato Johnson in Cincinnati, Cosgrove moved to Chicago in 1980 and began a freelance career in digital and traditional illustration.
Cosgrove's designs have appeared in numerous ads, posters, covers, and on packaging. Recent clients include Cunard Line, Dunlop Tire, Fiat, J P Morgan Chase, Miller Brewing Company, Netflix, The New York Times, Shell Oil company, SohoPress, and The Wall Street Journal. In recognition of his work Cosgrove has received awards from Communications Arts and the Society of Illustrators (Gold Medal).
The 2008 Express Mail® and Priority Mail® stamps featuring Mount Rushmore and Hoover Dam were Cosgrove's first projects for the U.S. Postal Service. Since then, Cosgrove has illustrated 27 additional Express Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps. Recent designs include Florida Everglades (Priority Mail) (2023), Great Smoky Mountains (Priority Mail Express) (2023), Monument Valley (Priority Mail) (2022), and Palace of Fine Arts (Priority Mail Express) (2022). He also created the stamp art for USS Missouri (2019).
Cosgrove and his wife live in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.