Construction Begins on the Space Needle (1961)

Fifty years ago today construction begin on theSpace Needlein Seattle . Just a year later , the 605 foot ( 185 m ) tower , which featured a revolving restaurant and observation deck , would be thecrown jewelof the 1962 Seattle World ’s Fair . Dubbed theCentury 21 Exposition , the Fair planners were eager to showcase American ingeniousness with centre firm doctor on the future . The place race had begun in 1957 with the Soviet launching ofSputnik , so it only made sense that Americans would want the Space Needle to become a big symbol for the new Space Age .

The advertizement below appeared in the February , 1962 issue ofHolidaymagazine .

It ’s April 21 , 1962 , in Seattle … World ’s Fair time ! The drapery ’s lead up on the twenty-first Century … and on the most exciting preview ever seen . This is Seattle ’s spectacular Space - Age World ’s Fair , where the epic of human being ’s journey into the next 100 years will spread for you . What ’s before ? How will man live ? What will he see ? face at cities in the year 2000 , see home whose walls are fountain of zephyr , where cordless appliances work for you , car depend on without wheels , goggle box wrist telephones belt along everyday communications . Time and distance wll disappear in the mammoth , pillar - less Coliseum Century 21 , jutting eleven stories up from the heart of the fair . You ’ll soar past the Sun Myung Moon into outer galaxy — no space suit of clothes , no gravity , in the $ 9 million complex of the United States Science Pavilion . You will discover the enigma of the hereafter in these six gleaming buildings rising above light fountain and courtyard pool . But it ’s not all the tale of man ’s bang-up tomorrows . Much of this $ 80 million show will be a glisten world of today . Dine atop the towering 60 - taradiddle Space Needle which revolve to view Mt. Rainier , the Olympic and Cascade Ranges . Stroll Boulevards of the World meet with the sight and sound of alien lands . Thrill to the Monorail as it whisks you the mi from downtown Seattle in 95 seconds .

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