The 1962 World's Fair: A Timeline
Seattle Got Its Sports Arena
It gave us the Pacific Science Center, the Fun Forest, the Opera House—thanks, World’s Fair. But Seattle got more than arts and science. At least six weeks before the fair’s opening day, architect Paul Thiry was already contemplating how to remodel the Washington State Coliseum from a home for the Bubbleator to an arena. In fact, plans for converting the “hyperbolic paraboloid” into a sports venue capable of luring a pro franchise had begun a year before the Howard S. Wright Construction Co. broke ground in 1960.
So on March 7, Thiry offered his own vision of a postfair coliseum: an 18,000-seat arena that could host indoor track, tennis, and boxing—although hockey, most agreed, would be the “star tenant and moneymaker.”
Thiry had a strong ally in Dorm Braman, who as a city council member had campaigned for reelection by promising to turn the Seattle Center grounds into “something all Seattle can enjoy and profit from for many generations to come.” Braman was so committed to the $5 million project that after ascending to the mayor’s office in 1964 he successfully lobbied city council for an additional $1 million. That June, after a modest six-week delay, the renovated coliseum opened. And as expected, the Seattle Totems’ semipro hockey team was the first tenant. Seats with the best sight lines went for $3.50.
Ironically it was an NBA exhibition game in October 1966 that would set the course for the future of the coliseum. Nearly 9,000 basketball fans showed up for the tilt—featuring Seattle U alumnus Elgin Baylor—and opened the league’s eyes to the possibility of fielding a team in the Emerald City. Two months later, NBA commissioner Walter Kennedy announced Seattle would be the home of its 11th franchise. That the SuperSonics would be stolen away by Oklahoma businessman Clay Bennett in 2008 makes Kennedy’s statement about the team’s owners all the more depressing: “We feel local representation is important to the success of the franchise.”
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We Learned to Love Science
Since the World’s Fair was dedicated to “Man in the Space Age,” the U.S. Science Pavilion got prime real estate—more than six acres. Most visitors made it to the exhibits about space, the scientific method, and an introductory 10-minute film by designers Ray and Charles Eames. And according to science, the experiences changed attendees.
University of Washington sociologist James B. Taylor quizzed exiting pavilion visitors in an extensive study, finding changed attitudes. “Science came to be seen as more feminine, excitable, and warm,” he wrote. Optimism was in the air as fairgoers left increasingly believing in “the likelihood of science eliminating crime and poverty” and with a greater consensus about the likelihood of a lunar landing by 1980. Science may have given visitors warm fuzzies, but it was still, Taylor noted, fuzzy: “The public’s conception of science became more vague…the public did not increase in understanding of the scientific method,” he noted.
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The City Skyline Changed Forever
Seattle was already acquainted with modernist architecture when Century 21 began, but the Space Needle’s unprecedented curves and columns—along with the fairgrounds’ other modernist flourishes—cemented the city’s movement away from more traditional buildings, says Peter Steinbrueck, architect, former city council member, and son of the late Victor Steinbrueck, who codesigned the Needle. “We never turned back after that.” And because Seattle zoning laws tend to corral skyscrapers downtown, the Needle remains a stark standout on the north end.
The space-age fairground structures marked the last major collaborative effort among the region’s top architects—including Museum of History and Industry and Frye Art Museum designer Paul Thiry, and Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the Pacific Science Center. Cities are more likely to import big-name architects for major civic projects, notes Steinbrueck; the postviaduct redevelopment of the waterfront hasn’t gone to local contractors.
Published: February 2012
(Corrected) Barbara Sharkey Smith was my mom. We had those 2000 copies of Seymour in a closet in our home on Capitol Hill for 10 years. I still have my copy. My parents did not have much money at the time and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to lose $1400, but we recovered. Even now the friends I grew up with remember Seymour. I still remember the excitement of the Fair, the wonder of the Space Needle, the Bubblator, the Monorail and the Wild Mouse. And, Seymour gave me and my sister the feeling that we were a direct part of it all. It was a great time to grow up in Seattle.
Barbara Sharkey Smith was my mom. We had those 2000 copies of Seymour in a closet in our home on Capitol Hill for 10 years. I still have my copy. My parents did not have much money at the time and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to lose $1400, but we recovered. Even now the friends I grew up with remeber Seymour. I still remember the excitement of the Fair, the wonder of the Space Needle, the Bubblator, the Monarail and the Wild Mouse. And, Seymour gave me and my sister the feeling that we were a direct part of it all. It was a great time to grow up in Seattle.
I would like to purchase a copy of the commemorative 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. How do I do that? Plese let me know.