10 landmarks you didn't know had Native American origins

• Native Americans built vibrant communities in what is now the United States before colonizers arrived.
• From the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to Alcatraz in San Francisco, here are 10 US landmarks that have Native American origins.

Native Americans built vibrant communities in what is now the United States long before colonizers arrived. Some of their villages, sacred sites, and names remain, while others have been razed, renamed, or forgotten.

Here 10 US landmarks you may not have known have Native American origins.

Gateway Arch — St. Louis, Missouri

Before European explorers arrived in St. Louis in the 1500s, it was a city of 20,000 people called Cahokia.

Gateway Arch National Park used to be known as Jefferson National Expansion Park, with the arch symbolizing America's westward expansion and Manifest Destiny.

The name was changed in 2015 to shift away from honoring a movement that forced Native Americans out of their lands and ravaged their communities. The museum under the arch was also renovated to include personal responses from Native Americans to questions like "Does staking claim to land justify national ownership?" according to the Washington Post.

"Why did they feel that they could go out and just take these lands?"National Park Service historian Bob Moore told NPR. "Basically they believed it was their God-given right."

Alcatraz Island — San Francisco, California

According to the oral history passed down in Native American communities reported by the National Park Service, Alcatraz Island was used as a place to send those who broke tribal law into isolation. It was also used as a camping spot with plentiful bird eggs and sea life.

When Spanish settlers arrived, Native Americans used the island as a hiding place from the mission system, an effort that began in 1769 when Spanish colonizers "civilized" Native people by baptizing them.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk — Peach Springs, Arizona

The Grand Canyon Skywalk is located at Grand Canyon West. More than 1 million tourists visit the horseshoe-shaped walkway every year to see the Grand Canyon from 4,000 feet above the ground.

Built on sacred Hualapai land, the site cost $30 million to construct. The tribe continues to manage the site after a legal battle between the tribe and the developer reached a settlement.

"People come from all over the world and ask where the real Indians are. And I say, 'I am right here,'" 24-year-old Luka Montana, a Hualapai singer who works at the Skywalk, told MyGrandCanyonPark.com. "They think we are still living in teepees, hunting and gathering. But we have Dish Network. We live in houses."