Four smaller fountains around the Geyser represent the four rivers which converge near the two cities: The Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, and Meramec.

[2] After two decades without development on the Illinois side, Martin founded the Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis to fund land acquisition for a park there, in 1968.

[4] Work began with the installation of a 100-foot (30 m) flagpole, shortly after Gateway Center purchased the site from Illinois Central Railroad.

[2] The fountain first gushed on May 27, 1995, with Martin at the switch, and when he died in 2004, he left $5 million for the addition of the Mississippi River Overlook and completion of the park.

[2] The overlook platform provides scenic views of the St. Louis Arch and city skyline, the river, and the fountain.

The fountain has an axial thrust of 103,000 pounds-force (460 kN); water is jetted out of the 6-foot (1.8 m)-tall aerated nozzle at a pressure of 550 pounds per square inch (3.8 MPa).