Century 21 Exposition
1962 Seattle | |
---|---|
Overview | |
BIE-class | Universal exposition |
Category | Second category General Exposition |
Name | Century 21 Exposition |
Motto | Living in the Space Age |
Building(s) | Space Needle and Washington State Pavilion |
Area | 74 acres (30 hectares) |
Invention(s) | Bubbleator, Friendship 7 |
Visitors | 9,609,969 |
Organized by | Edward E. Carlson |
Participant(s) | |
Countries | 24 |
Location | |
Country | United States |
City | Seattle |
Venue | Broad Street |
Coordinates | 47°37′17″N 122°21′03″W / 47.62139°N 122.35083°W |
Timeline | |
Bidding | 1955 |
Opening | April 21, 1962 |
Closure | October 21, 1962 |
Universal expositions | |
Previous | Expo 58 in Brussels |
Next | Expo 67 in Montreal |
The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair) was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States.[1][2] Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during its six-month run.[3]
As planned, the exposition left behind a fairground and numerous public buildings and public works; some credit it with revitalizing Seattle's economic and cultural life (see
The site, slightly expanded since the fair, is now called Seattle Center; the United States Science Pavilion is now the Pacific Science Center. Another notable Seattle Center building, the Museum of Pop Culture (earlier called EMP Museum), was built nearly 40 years later and designed to fit in with the fairground atmosphere.
Planning and funding
Seattle mayor Allan Pomeroy is credited with bringing the World's Fair to the city. He recruited community and business leaders, as well as running a petition campaign, in the early 1950s to convince the city council to approve an $8.5 million bond issue to build the opera house and sports center needed to attract the fair. Eventually the council approved a $7.5 million bond issue with the state of Washington matching that amount.[5]
Cold War and Space Race context
The fair was originally conceived at a Washington Athletic Club luncheon in 1955 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, but it soon became clear that that date was too ambitious. With the Space Race underway and Boeing having "put Seattle on the map"[6] as "an aerospace city",[7] a major theme of the fair was to show that "the United States was not really 'behind' the Soviet Union in the realms of science and space". As a result, the themes of space, science, and the future completely trumped the earlier conception of a "Festival of the [American] West".[6]
In June 1960, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) certified Century 21 as a world's fair.[8] Project manager Ewen Dingwall went to Moscow to request Soviet participation, but was turned down. Neither the People's Republic of China, Vietnam nor North Korea were invited.[8]
As it happened, the Cold War had an additional effect on the fair. President John F. Kennedy was supposed to attend the closing ceremony of the fair on October 21, 1962. He bowed out, pleading a "heavy cold"; it later became public that he was dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.[9]
The fair's vision of the future displayed a technologically based optimism that did not anticipate any dramatic social change, one rooted in the 1950s rather than in the cultural tides that would emerge in the 1960s. Affluence, automation, consumerism, and American power would grow; social equity would simply take care of itself on a rising tide of abundance; the human race would master nature through technology rather than view it in terms of ecology.[6] In contrast, 12 years later—even in far more conservative Spokane, Washington—Expo '74 took environmentalism as its central theme. The theme of Spokane's Expo '74 was "Celebrating Tomorrow's Fresh New Environment.".[10]
Buildings and grounds
Once the fair idea was conceived, several sites were considered. Among the sites considered within Seattle were
The site finally selected for the Century 21 Exposition had originally been contemplated for a civic center. The idea of using it for the world's fair came later and brought in federal money for the United States Science Pavilion (now Pacific Science Center) and state money for the Washington State Coliseum (later Seattle Center Coliseum; renamed KeyArena in 1993 after the city sold naming rights to KeyCorp, the company doing business as KeyBank; renamed
As early as the 1909
The fair planners also sought two other properties near the southwest corner of the grounds. They failed completely to make any inroads with the Seattle Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, who had recently built Sacred Heart Church there; they did a bit better with the
The grounds of the fair were divided into:
- World of Science
- World of Century 21 (also known as World of Tomorrow[11])
- World of Commerce and Industry
- World of Art
- World of Entertainment
- Show Street
- Gayway
- Boulevards of the World
- Exhibit Fair
- Food and Favors
- Food Circus
Source:[26]
Besides the
World of Science
The World of Science centered on the United States Science Exhibit. It also included a NASA Exhibit that included models and mockups of various satellites, as well as the Project Mercury capsule that had carried Alan Shepard into space.[29] These exhibits were the federal government's major contribution to the fair.[7][12]
The United States Science Exhibit began with
World of Century 21
The Washington State Coliseum, financed by the state of Washington, was one of Thiry's own architectural contributions to the fairgrounds. His original conception had been staging the entire fair under a single giant air-conditioned tent-like structure, "a city of its own", but there were neither the budgets nor the tight agreements on concept to realize that vision. In the end, he got exactly enough of a budget to design and build a 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) building suitable to hold a variety of exhibition spaces and equally suitable for later conversion to a sports arena and convention facility.[12]
During the festival, the building hosted several exhibits. Nearly half of its surface area was occupied by the state's own circular exhibit "Century 21—The Threshold and the Threat", also known as the "World of Tomorrow" exhibit, billed as a "21-minute tour of the future". The building also housed exhibits by France,
In "The Threshold and the Threat", visitors rode a "Bubbleator" into the "world of tomorrow". Music "from another world" and a shifting pattern of lights accompanied them on a 40-second upward journey to a starry space bathed in golden light. Then they were faced briefly with an image of a desperate family in a fallout shelter, which vanished and was replaced by a series of images reflecting the sweep of history, starting with the Acropolis and ending with an image of Marilyn Monroe.[30]
Next, visitors were beckoned into a cluster of cubes containing a model of a "city of the future" (which a few landmarks clearly indicated as Seattle) and its suburban and rural surroundings, seen first by day and later by night. The next cluster of cubes zoomed in on a vision of a high-tech, future home in a sylvan setting (and a commuter
The exhibit continued with a vision of future transportation (centered on a monorail and high-speed "air cars" on an electrically controlled highway). There was also an "office of the future", a climate-controlled "farm factory", an automated offshore kelp and plankton harvesting farm, a vision of the schools of the future with "electronic storehouses of knowledge", and a vision of the many recreations that technology would free humans to pursue.[30]
Finally, the tour ended with a symbolic sculptural tree and the reappearance of the family in the fallout shelter and the sound of a ticking clock, a brief silence, an extract from President Kennedy's Inaugural Address, followed by a further "symphony of music and color".[30]
Under the same roof, the ALA exhibited a "library of the future" (centered on a
World of Commerce and Industry
The World of Commerce and Industry was divided into domestic and foreign areas. The former was sited mainly south of American Way (the continuation of Thomas Street through the grounds), an area it shared with the World of Science.[32] It included the Space Needle and what is now the Broad Street Green and Mural Amphitheater.[14] The Hall of Industry and some smaller buildings were immediately north of American Way.[33] The latter included 15 governmental exhibitors and surrounded the World of Tomorrow and extended to the north edge of the fair.[34]
Among the features of Domestic Commerce and Industry, the massive Interiors, Fashion, and Commerce Building spread for 500 feet (150 m)—nearly the entire Broad Street side of the grounds—with exhibits ranging from 32 separate furniture companies to the
Foreign exhibits included a science and technology exhibit by Great Britain, while Mexico and Peru focused on handicrafts, and Japan and India attempted to show both of these sides of their national cultures. The
World of Art
The Fine Arts Pavilion (later the Exhibition Hall) brought together an art exhibition unprecedented for the
A separate gallery presented Northwest Coast Indian art, and featured a series of large paintings by Bill Holm introducing Northwest Native motifs.[41]
World of Entertainment
A US$15 million performing-arts program at the fair ranged from a
Opera House performances
Scheduled groups performing at the Opera House included: Source:[45]
Date (all dates are 1962) | Act |
---|---|
April 21 | Opening Night: Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by guest conductor Igor Stravinsky with Van Cliburn as a guest soloist
|
April 22–25 | The Ed Sullivan Show, live telecasts |
April 20 – May 5 | Dunninger the Mentalist |
May 6 | The Littlest Circus |
May 8–12 | The San Francisco Ballet |
May 13 | Science Fiction Panel including Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling |
May 15–16 | Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Milton Katims, with guest soloists Isaac Stern, Adele Addison, and Albert DaCosta |
May 17–19 | Victor Borge |
May 22 | Theodore Bikel |
May 24–25 | The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy |
May 29 – June 3 | The Shakespeare performances)
|
June 7, June 9, June 11 |
Seattle Symphony production of |
June 10 | Josh White |
June 17 | Norwegian Chorus and Dancers |
June 18–19 | Ukrainian State Dance Company (U.S. premiere) |
June 22–23 | International Gospel Quartets |
July 8 | SPEBSQSA Barbershop Quartet Song Fest |
July 9–14 | Bayanihan Dancers of the Philippines |
July 24 – August 4 | New York City Ballet Company |
August 27 – September 2 | Ballet Folklorico de Mexico
|
September 10 | CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra |
September 18–23 | D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (Gilbert and Sullivan operettas) |
September 25–30 | Rapsodia Romîna: Romanian National Folk Ensemble and Barbu Lăutaru Orchestra of Bucharest (U.S. premiere) |
October 2–7 | Uday Shankar Dancers |
October 8–13 | Foo-Hsing Theater (Republic of China), youth Chinese opera |
October 14 | U.S. Marine Corps Band |
October 16–17 | Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Milton Katims, world premiere of new work by Gerald Kechley |
Other performances
Events and performances at the Playhouse included Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre; a chamber music performance by Isaac Stern, Milton Katims, Leonard Rose, Eugene Istomin, the Claiborne Brothers gospel quartet, and the Juilliard String Quartet; two appearances by newsman Edward R. Murrow; Bunraku theater; Richard Dyer-Bennet; Hal Holbrook's solo show as Mark Twain; the Count Basie and Benny Goodman jazz orchestras; Lawrence Welk; Nat King Cole; and Ella Fitzgerald. Also during the fair, Memorial Stadium hosted the Ringling Brothers Circus, Tommy Bartlett's Water Ski Sky and Stage Show, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans' Western Show, and an appearance by evangelist Billy Graham.[46]
The fair and the city were the setting of the Elvis Presley movie It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), with a young Kurt Russell making his first screen appearance. Location shooting began on September 4 and concluded nearly two weeks later. The film would be released the following spring, long after the fair had ended.
Show Street
At the northeast corner of the grounds (now the
Other sections of the fair
- Gayway
- The Gayway was a small amusement park; after the fair it became the Fun Forest.black lights and glow paint.[49] In 2011, the Fun Forest was shut down and the Chihuly Garden and Glass opened in its place.[50]
- Boulevards of the World
- Boulevards of the World was "the shopping center of the fair". It also included the Plaza of the States and the original version of the International Fountain.[51]
- Exhibit Fair
- The Exhibit Fair provided another shopping district under the north stands of Memorial Stadium.[52]
- Food and Favors
- "Food and Favors", officially one of the "areas" of the fair, simply encompassed the various restaurants, food stands, etc., scattered throughout the grounds. These ranged from vending machines and food stands to the Eye of the Needle (atop the Space Needle) and the private Century 21 Club.[53]
- Food Circus
- The Food Circus was a Jones' Fantastic Show, the Jules Charbneau World of Miniatures, and the Pullen Klondike Museum.[55]
Promotional video
See also
Notes
- ^ Official Guide Book, cover and passim.
- ^ a b c Guide to the Seattle Center Grounds Photograph Collection: April, 1963 Archived March 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ a b Joel Connelly, Century 21 introduced Seattle to its future Archived September 14, 2012, at archive.today, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 16, 2002. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ Regina Hackett, City's arts history began a new chapter in '62 Archived May 27, 2012, at archive.today, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 29, 2002. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ "The Fair that Launched the Future". Seattle.gov. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
- ^ a b c Lesson Twenty-five: The Impact of the Cold War on Washington: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair Archived January 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, HSTAA 432: History of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ a b Berger, Knute (October 3, 2007). "How Sputnik 'beeped' Seattle into the 21st century". Crosscut. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Sharon Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy, A model for the future Archived October 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, The Seattle Times, September 22, 1996. Accessed online October 20, 2007.
- HistoryLink.org Essay 967, March 15, 1999. Accessed online October 18, 2007. Archived November 22, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lesson Twenty-six: Spokane's Expo '74: A World's Fair for the Environment Archived December 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, HSTAA 432: History of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest], Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. Accessed online April 9, 2011.
- ^ HistoryLink.org. Accessed online October 18, 2007. Archived October 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Interview with Paul Thiry Conducted by Meredith Clausen at the Artist's home September 15 & 16, 1983 Archived July 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Smithsonian, Archives of American Art. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ Summary for 305 Harrison ST / Parcel ID 1985200003 / Inv # CTR004 Archived May 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Campus Walking Tour / Narrative for Seattle Center Archived February 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Center. Accessed online October 19, 2007.
- ^ Dorothea Mootafes, Theodora Dracopoulos Argue, Paul Plumis, Perry Scarlatos, Peggy Falangus Tramountanas, eds., A History of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church and Her People, Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2007 (1996). p. 112.
- OCLC 54019052. Republished online by HistoryLink by permission of the Seattle Public School District: "Seattle Public Schools, 1862-2000: Warren Avenue School", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink, September 12, 2013
- ^ Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan, Queen Anne Historic Context Statement Archived June 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, prepared for the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation Program and the Queen Anne Historical Society, October 2005, p. 22. Accessed online July 24, 2008.
- ^ a b Lentz and Sheridan, 2005, p. 23.
- ^ High-School-Memorial-Stadium Archived May 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Seattle City Clerk's Thesaurus. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan, Queen Anne Historic Context Statement Archived June 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, prepared for the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation Program and the Queen Anne Historical Society, October 2005, p. 18. Accessed online July 24, 2008. Source for the 1927 date.
- ISBN 0-385-01875-4.
- ^ "Summary for 201 Thomas St". Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
- ^ Alan J. Stein, Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair Archived June 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, HistoryLink.org essay 2290, April 18, 2000. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ a b Walt Crowley, Yamasaki, Minoru (1912–1986), Seattle-born architect of New York's World Trade Center Archived October 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, HistoryLink.org Essay 5352, March 3, 2003. Accessed online October 18, 2007.
- ^ Ross, Deb. "Century 21 "welcoming pole" | Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum". Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
- ^ Official Guide Book, Map, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Official Guide Book, p. 115.
- ^ Lisa Zigweid. Galaxy/Wild Mouse, Fun Forest, Seattle, WA Archived October 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Defunct Coasters, Roller Coasters of the Pacific Northwest. Accessed online November 18, 2007.
- ^ a b Official Guide Book, pp. 8–24.
- ^ a b c d e Official Guide Book, pp. 26–34.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 35–40.
- ^ Official Guide Book, p. 42.
- ^ Official Guide Book, Map p. 43.
- ^ Official Guide Book, p. 42, Map p. 71.
- ^ a b c d Official Guide Book, pp. 45–68.
- ^ "Wood in the Space Age: Forest Products at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair". Forest History Society. April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ The Internet Archive offers "Century 21 Calling..." online. Accessed October 19, 2007.
- ^ Mystery Science Theater 3000, "Episode #906: Space Children".
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 70–84.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 88–95.
- ^ Official Guide Book, p. 96.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Summary for 201 Mercer ST / Parcel ID 1988200440 / Inv # CTR008 Archived May 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online October 19, 2007.
- ^ Jacobson, Lynn (May 6, 2013). "New name, same theater at Seattle Center". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 100–103.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 104–109.
- ^ Alan J. Stein, Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Part 2 Archived November 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, HistoryLink.org Essay 2291, April 19, 2000. Accessed October 20, 2007.
- ^ a b Official Guide Book, pp. 110–114.
- ^ "Seattle Times - Flight to Mars amusement ride was rite of passage". Archived from the original on August 20, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
- ^ Ho, Vanessa (September 3, 2013). "Seattle Center Fun Forest: Remember these rides?". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 119–131.
- ^ Official Guide Book, p. 133.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 135–136.
- ^ Official Guide Book, pp. 137–139.
- ^ Stanton H. Patty (October 4, 1963). "Center's triple header: Three new museums to open". Seattle Times.
References
- Official Guide Book: Seattle World's Fair 1962, Acme Publications: Seattle (1962)
External links
- Official website of the BIE
- A "cybertour" of the exposition at HistoryLink.
- Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair at HistoryLink
- Century 21 Digital Collection from the Seattle Public Library Archived June 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – over 1800 related photos, advertisements, reports, programs, postcards, brochures, and more.
- "Seattle Center", p. 18–24 in Survey Report: Comprehensive Inventory of City-Owned Historic Resources, Seattle, Washington, Department of Neighborhoods (Seattle) Historic Preservation, offers an extremely detailed account of the acquisition of land for the exposition and of past and present buildings on the grounds.
- Seattle Photographs Collection, Century 21 Exposition – University of Washington Digital Collection
- Pamphlet and Textual Ephemera Collection, Century 21 Exposition documents – University of Washington Digital Collection