The idea of the arch is attributed to Hiram Martin Chittenden, who felt that the area surrounding Gardiner was not sufficiently impressive and required an emphatic statement of arrival at the famous park. Before 1903, trains brought visitors to Cinnabar, Montana, which was a few miles northwest of Gardiner, Montana, where people would transfer onto horse-drawn coaches to enter the park. In 1903, the railway finally came to Gardiner. With the development of the Gardiner train station, the arch was proposed as part of the station ensemble.