Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair

When the United States entered the 1960s, the nation was swept up in the Space Race as the United States and the Soviet Union competed for supremacy in rocket and satellite technologies. Cities across the country hoped to attract new aerospace companies, but the city leaders of Seattle launched the most ambitious campaign of all. They invited the whole world to visit for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and more than nine million people took them up on the offer. A colorful collection of exhibits turned 74 acres of rundown buildings into a futuristic wonderland where dozens of countries and companies predicted life in the future. The entire city was transformed with the addition of the soaring Space Needle and the futuristic monorail. When the fair ended, the site became a complex of parks and museums that remains a vibrant part of Seattle city life today.