Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair showcased Seattle as a space-age city. See photos, brochures, postcards and other items related to Seattle’s 1960s vision of the future.
View S.E. Left Information Pavilion; Back is partial view of U.S. Science Pavilion
General Insurance Company Information Center and United States Science Pavilion, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World’s Fair). On the Information Center, designed by Austin Associates: “The Seattle World's Fair Information Center is located in front of the United States Science Pavilion on Friendship Mall. It is sponsored by the General Insurance Company of America, whose home office is in Seattle. A coral-colored nylon roof tops the open-sided structure. Ten trained guides help visitors with information about the fair, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. The guides, young ladies dressed in yellow blouses and brown skirts, have complete information on locations of buildings, exhibits and service facilities at the-fair. In addition, they will answer questions about places to see, transportation, lodging, service club meetings and sightseeing.” (Official Guide Book, Seattle World's Fair 1962. Seattle: Acme Publications. p. 64.) On the United States Science Pavilion, designed by Minoru Yamasaki and Associates and Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson: “The lacy pattern of this six-unit complex placed around a central court with its 100-ft. high arches is in decided contrast to the forcefulness of Coliseum 21. In a sense, the pavilion is a salute to concrete, for it is believed to represent the largest single use of precast and prestressed structural components in the nation.” (An Architect’s Guidebook to the Seattle World’s Fair. Seattle, Pacific Builder and Engineer, April 1962, p. 21.)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00618
Date: 1962-02-25
View this itemPacific Builder and Engineer, v. 7, no. 14, Apr. 3, 1909
Identifier: spl_pbe_3022043_1909_07_14
Date: 1909-04-03
View this itemOn the Blvds. of the World; 2nd Ave. No.
Boulevards of the World at the Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World's Fair). "The Boulevards of the World area is the shopping center of the fair. Stores, stands and kiosks displaying the goods and gifts of a dozen nations line the gay and colorful thoroughfares that tie the five theme Worlds of Century 21 together. Exotic shops and restaurants are on Boulevard East, Boulevard West, Freedom Way and United Nations Way. In among the bazaars are fine restaurants and elegant exhibits. In the streets, kiosks display food and favors for sale, while along the edges are benches for the sightseers." (Official Guide Book, Seattle World's Fair 1962. Seattle: Acme Publications. p. 119.)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00228
Date: 1962-04-28
View this itemU.S. Science Pavilion photo mural
United States Science Pavilion, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World's Fair). “Beneath five arching towers representing man’s constant striving for knowledge for the universe will be presented the most significant scientific display ever assembled…It is the United States Government’s Science Exhibit, a $9,000,000 program of participation including a giant six-building pavilion and unique exhibits dedicated to showing the peaceful uses of science. Stepping out of the textbook into the techniques of showmanship will be the authentic story of the tremendous break-throughs in the barriers which now stand between man and his conquering of space, his control of weather, disease, and over-population of the world.” (Washington State Dept. of Commerce and Economic Development. Seattle World's Fair preview. Seattle: Acme Publications, 1961, n.p.)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00842
Date: 1962-09
View this itemView S.E. from U.S. Science Bldg. balcony on Denny Way
Construction, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World's Fair).
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00309
Date: 1962-03-11
View this itemView so. of U.S. Science Pavilion arches
United States Science Pavilion, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World's Fair). “The lacy pattern of this six-unit complex placed around a central court with its 100-ft. high arches is in decided contrast to the forcefulness of Coliseum 21. In a sense, the pavilion is a salute to concrete, for it is believed to represent the largest single use of precast and prestressed structural components in the nation.” (An Architect’s Guidebook to the Seattle World’s Fair. Seattle, Pacific Builder and Engineer, April 1962, p. 21)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_01078
Date: 1962-05-13
View this itemThe Town Crier, v.9, no.43, Oct. 24, 1914
Page 1 features photograph of Reah Whitehead, candidate for Justice of the Peace.
Identifier: spl_tc_915126_1914_09_43
Date: 1914-10-24
View this itemView S.E. of Rand McNally & Co. to right so. of Coliseum
Rand McNally Company exhibit, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World’s Fair). “Focal point of attention in this exhibit is the Geo-Physical Globe, reportedly the most accurate and detailed scientific relief globe ever constructed. A display of maps and atlases includes the official Rand McNally map of the Fairgrounds. Less than 20 Geo-Physical Globes are known to be in existence.” (Official press book : Seattle World's Fair 1962. Seattle: Century 21 Exposition, p. 42.)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00812
Date: 1962-05-13
View this itemSpace Needle from south of Coliseum
Space Needle, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World’s Fair). “The Space Needle, a modernistic totem of the Seattle World’s Fair, was conceived by Eddie Carlson as a doodle in 1959 and given form by architects John Graham Jr., Victor Steinbrueck, and John Ridley. When King County declined to fund the project, five private investors, Bagley Wright, Ned Skinner, Norton Clapp, John Graham Jr., and Howard S. Wright, took over and built the 605-foot tower in less than a year.” (Walt Crowley, “Space Needle (Seattle).” HistoryLink.org, http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=1424)
Identifier: spl_wl_sec_01774
Date: 1962-02-25
View this itemView N.W. from stadium to Spanish Village with playhouse top right
Spanish Village, Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World’s Fair). The Spanish Village “includes a flamenco restaurant; a miniature house that is a replica of the birthplace of Father Junipero Serra, the first Spanish priest to come to the West Coast, and a patio courtyard.” (Seattle Times, June 10, 1962, p. 140.)
Identifier: spl_wl_exp_00929
Date: 1962-09
View this item