Editing Century 21 Exposition

{{short description|World's fair held in Seattle, Washington}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox World's Fair
| box_width       =
| class           = Universal
| category        = 2
| image           = Century 21 Exposition logo1.png
| image_width     = 200px
| caption         = Century 21 Exposition logo
| year            = 1962
| name            = Century 21 Exposition
| motto           = Living in the Space Age
| building        = [[Space Needle]] and [[Climate Pledge Arena|Washington State Pavilion]]
| area            = {{convert|74|acre|ha|abbr=off}}
| invent          = [[Bubbleator]], [[Mercury-Atlas 6|Friendship 7]]
| visitors        = 9,609,969
| organized       = Edward E. Carlson
| cnt             = 24
| org             =
| biz             =
| country         = United States
| city            = [[Seattle]]
| venue           = Broad Street
| coord           = {{coord|47|37|17|N|122|21|03|W|format=dms|type:landmark_region:US-WA}}
| cand            = 1955
| award           =
| open            = April 21, 1962
| close           = October 21, 1962
| prevexpo        = [[Expo 58]]
| prevcity        = [[Brussels]]
| nextexpo        = [[Expo 67]]
| nextcity        = [[Montreal]]
| suppl           =
| prevsuppl       =
| prevsupcity     =
| nextsuppl       =
| nextsupcity     =
| simuni          =
| simspe          =
| simhor          =
| simoth          =
| website         =
}}

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.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', cover and ''passim''.</ref><ref name=UW-lib-1>[http://lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/photosgraphics/SeattleCenterGroundsPHColl403.xml Guide to the Seattle Center Grounds Photograph Collection: April, 1963] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327010923/http://lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/photosgraphics/SeattleCenterGroundsPHColl403.xml |date=March 27, 2008 }}, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref> Nearly 10&nbsp;million people attended the fair during its six-month run.<ref name=Connelly>Joel Connelly, [http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/66691_joel16.shtml Century 21 introduced Seattle to its future] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120914154149/http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/66691_joel16.shtml |date=September 14, 2012 }}, ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'', April 16, 2002. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref>

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 [[History of Seattle (1940–present)]]'').<ref>Regina Hackett, [http://www.seattlepi.com/visualart/68136_wfairart.shtml City's arts history began a new chapter in '62] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120527084500/http://www.seattlepi.com/visualart/68136_wfairart.shtml |date=May 27, 2012 }}, ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', April 29, 2002. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref> The fair saw the construction of the [[Space Needle]] and [[Seattle Center Monorail|Alweg monorail]], as well as several sports venues (Washington State Coliseum, now [[Climate Pledge Arena]]) and performing arts buildings (the Playhouse, now the [[Cornish College of the Arts|Cornish Playhouse]]), most of which have since been replaced or heavily remodeled. Unlike some other world's fairs of its era, Century 21 made a profit.<ref name=Connelly />

[[File:US Navy 030529-N-9500T-003 The top of Seattle's Space Needle, which has been painted in Red, White and Blue for Memorial Day.jpg|thumb|upright|Aerial photograph of the [[Space Needle]] in 2003 decorated for Memorial Day]]
The site, slightly expanded since the fair, is now called the [[Seattle Center]]; the United States Science Pavilion is now [[Pacific Science Center]]. Another notable Seattle Center building, the [[Museum of Pop Culture]] (earlier called EMP Museum), was built nearly 40&nbsp;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 (state)|Washington]] matching that amount.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://godden.seattle.gov/2012/02/27/the-fair-that-launched-the-future/|title=The Fair That Launched the Future|publisher=Seattle.gov|access-date=June 4, 2018|archive-date=June 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613172119/http://godden.seattle.gov/2012/02/27/the-fair-that-launched-the-future/|url-status=live}}</ref> Planning officials agreed to proposals by prominent scientists to showcase the scientific achievements of the United States of America. About 75 percent of the fair buildings were constructed to be permanent.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert W. Rydell|author2=John E. Findling|author3=Kimberly D. Pelle|title=Fair America: World’s Fairs in the United States|publisher=Smithsonian Books|date=2000|isbn=1560989688|page=102}}</ref>

==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"<ref name=lesson25>[http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2025/25.html Lesson Twenty-five: The Impact of the Cold War on Washington: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101081352/http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2025/25.html |date=January 1, 2011 }}, 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.</ref> as "an aerospace city",<ref name=Berger>{{cite web|last=Berger|first=Knute|title=How Sputnik 'Beeped' Seattle into the 21st Century|work=[[Crosscut.com|Crosscut]]|date=October 3, 2007|url=http://www.crosscut.com/mossback/7876/How+Sputnik+'beeped'+Seattle+into+the+21st+century/|access-date=August 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516124140/http://crosscut.com/mossback/7876/How+Sputnik+%27beeped%27+Seattle+into+the+21st+century/|archive-date=May 16, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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".<ref name=lesson25 />

In June 1960, the [[Bureau International des Expositions]] (BIE) certified Century 21 as a world's fair.<ref name=Boswell/> 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.<ref name=Boswell>Sharon Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/centennial/september/future.html A model for the future] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017010718/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/centennial/september/future.html |date=October 17, 2007 }}, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'', September 22, 1996. Accessed online October 20, 2007.</ref>

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]].<ref>Greg Lange, [http://www.historylink.org/_output.CFM?file_ID=967 President Kennedy's Cold War cold supersedes Seattle World's Fair closing ceremonies on October 21, 1962], [[HistoryLink.org]] Essay 967, March 15, 1999. Accessed online October 18, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122162319/http://www.historylink.org/_output.CFM?file_ID=967 |date=November 22, 2005 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=lesson25 /> In contrast, 12&nbsp;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.".<ref name=lesson26>[http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2026/26.html Lesson Twenty-six: Spokane's Expo '74: A World's Fair for the Environment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222030759/http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2026/26.html |date=December 22, 2010 }}, 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.</ref>

==Buildings and grounds==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:21st Century Exposition Token.png|thumb|1962 World's Fair - One Dollar Token]] -->
[[File:Aerial of Seattle World's Fair, 1962 (49357305316).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of the fairgrounds in 1962]]
[[File:Century 21 Exposition map.png|thumb|Map showing major features of the grounds]]
Once the fair idea was conceived, several sites were considered. Among the sites considered within Seattle were [[Duwamish Head]] in [[West Seattle]]; [[Fort Lawton]] (now [[Discovery Park (Seattle)|Discovery Park]]) in the [[Magnolia, Seattle|Magnolia]] neighborhood; and [[First Hill, Seattle|First Hill]]—even closer to [[Downtown Seattle|Downtown]] than the site finally selected, but far more densely developed. Two sites south of the city proper were considered—[[Midway, Washington|Midway]], near [[Des Moines, Washington|Des Moines]], and the Army Depot in [[Auburn, Washington|Auburn]]—as was a site east of the city on the south shore of [[Lake Sammamish]].<ref name=Boswell />
[[File:1960 map of what became Seattle Center.jpg|thumb|left|1960 map of what became the grounds of the Century 21 Exposition]]
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 [[Climate Pledge Arena]] in 2021 after naming rights were sold to Amazon.com, Inc).<ref name=UW-lib-1 /><ref name=HL-cyber-coliseum>[http://www.historylink.org/cybertour/index.cfm?file_id=7042 Point 22: World of Tomorrow], "Century 21: Forward into the Past", "cybertour" of the exposition, [[HistoryLink.org]]. Accessed online October 18, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016233618/http://www.historylink.org/cybertour/index.cfm?file_id=7042 |date=October 16, 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Thiry-oral>[http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/tranSCRIPTs/thiry83.htm Interview with Paul Thiry Conducted by Meredith Clausen at the Artist's home September 15 & 16, 1983] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706092954/http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/thiry83.htm |date=July 6, 2007 }} [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]], Archives of American Art. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref><ref>[http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=-536238491 Summary for 305 Harrison ST / Parcel ID 1985200003 / Inv # CTR004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520174144/http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=-536238491 |date=May 20, 2011 }}, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref> Some of the land had been donated to the city by James Osborne in 1881 and by [[David Denny|David and Louisa Denny]] in 1889.<ref name=walking>[http://www.seattlecenter.com/images/media/pdf/SC%20CampusWalkingTour.pdf Campus Walking Tour / Narrative for Seattle Center] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227000311/http://www.seattlecenter.com/images/media/pdf/SC%20CampusWalkingTour.pdf |date=February 27, 2008 }}, Seattle Center. Accessed online October 19, 2007.</ref> Two lots at Third Avenue N. and John Street were purchased from [[St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (Seattle)|St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church]], who had been planning to build a new church building there; the church used the proceeds to purchase land in the [[Montlake, Seattle|Montlake]] neighborhood.<ref>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.</ref> The Warren Avenue School, a public elementary school with several programs for physically Disabled students, was torn down, its programs dispersed, and provided most of the site of the Coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena).<ref>{{Building for Learning
|title = Warren Avenue School
|article = 10604
|date = September 12, 2013
|access-date = January 1, 2018
}}</ref> Near the school, some of the city's oldest houses, apartments, and commercial buildings were torn down; they had been run down to the point of being known as the "Warren Avenue slum".<ref>Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan, [http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf Queen Anne Historic Context Statement] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607192530/http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf |date=June 7, 2010 }}, 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.</ref> The old Fire Station No. 4 was also sacrificed.<ref name="Lentz and Sheridan, 2005, p. 23">Lentz and Sheridan, 2005, p. 23.</ref>

As early as the 1909 [[Virgil Bogue|Bogue plan]], this part of Lower [[Queen Anne, Seattle|Queen Anne]] had been considered for a civic center. The Civic Auditorium (later the Opera House, now [[McCaw Hall]]), the ice arena (later [[Mercer Arena]]), and the Civic Field (rebuilt in 1946 as the [[High School Memorial Stadium]]),<ref>[http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=ZD-6035.ot.&Sect5=THES1&Sect6=HITOFF&d=THES&l=20&p=1&u=%2F~public%2Fthes1.htm&r=1&f=G High-School-Memorial-Stadium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517185954/http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=ZD-6035.ot.&Sect5=THES1&Sect6=HITOFF&d=THES&l=20&p=1&u=%2F~public%2Fthes1.htm&r=1&f=G |date=May 17, 2011 }}, Seattle City Clerk's Thesaurus. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref><ref>Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan, [http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf Queen Anne Historic Context Statement] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607192530/http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextQueenAnneStatement2005.pdf |date=June 7, 2010 }}, 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.</ref> all built in 1927 had been placed there based on that plan, as was an [[Seattle Center Armory|armory]] (the Food Circus during the fair, later Center House).<ref name=Thiry-oral />

[[File:Us science exhibit 01.jpg|thumb|Cover of the United States Science Exhibit Guide for the Seattle World's Fair, [[United States Department of Commerce]]]]

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 [[Freemasons]]' Nile Temple, which they were able to use for the duration of the fair and which then returned to its previous use.<ref name="jones">{{Cite book | last =Jones | first =Nard | author-link =Nard Jones | year = 1972 | title =Seattle | place =Garden City, New York | publisher =Doubleday | isbn =0-385-01875-4 | page=321}}</ref> It served as the site of the Century 21 Club. This membership organization, formed especially for the fair, charged $250 for membership and offered lounge, dining room, and other club facilities, as well as a gate pass for the duration of the fair. The city ended up leasing the property after the fair and in 1977 bought it from the Masons. The building was eventually incorporated into a theater complex including the [[Seattle Children's Theatre]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=169122387|title=Summary for 201 Thomas St|publisher=Seattle Department of Neighborhoods|access-date=August 20, 2008|archive-date=May 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520174722/http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=169122387|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Paul Thiry (architect)|Paul Thiry]] was the fair's chief architect; he also designed the Coliseum building. Among the other architects of the fair, Seattle-born [[Minoru Yamasaki]] received one of his first major commissions to build the United States Science Pavilion. Yamasaki would later design New York's [[World Trade Center (1973-2001)|World Trade Center]].<ref>Alan J. Stein, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2290 Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618101543/http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2290 |date=June 18, 2008 }}, HistoryLink.org essay 2290, April 18, 2000. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref><ref name=Yamasaki>Walt Crowley, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5352 Yamasaki, Minoru (1912–1986), Seattle-born architect of New York's World Trade Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023082033/http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5352 |date=October 23, 2007 }}, HistoryLink.org Essay 5352, March 3, 2003. Accessed online October 18, 2007.</ref> [[Victor Steinbrueck]] and [[John Graham & Company|John Graham, Jr.]] designed the Space Needle. [[Hideki Shimizu]] and [[Kazuyuki Matsushita]] designed the original [[International Fountain]].<ref name="Lentz and Sheridan, 2005, p. 23"/> Despite the plan to build a permanent civic center, more than half the structures built for the fair were torn down more or less immediately after it ended.<ref name=UW-lib-1 /> One attempt to conserve installations from Century 21 was the creation of a replica "welcoming pole," a number of which originally stood tall over the southern entrance to the fair. This replica stood outside the Washington State Capital Museum until 1990, when it was taken down.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://olympiahistory.org/century-21-totem-pole/|title=Century 21 "Welcoming Pole" {{!}} Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum|last=Ross|first=Deb|language=en-US|access-date=March 14, 2019|archive-date=May 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520070643/https://olympiahistory.org/century-21-totem-pole/|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear|left}}
The grounds of the fair were divided into:
* World of Science
* World of Century 21 (also known as World of Tomorrow<ref name=HL-cyber-coliseum />)
* 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
<small>Source:<ref>''Official Guide Book'', Map, pp. 4–5.</ref></small>

Besides the [[Seattle Center Monorail|monorail]], which survives {{as of|2023|lc=y}}, the fair also featured a Skyride that ran {{convert|1400|ft|m}} across the grounds from the Gayway to the International Mall. The bucket-like three-person cars were suspended from cables that rose as high as {{convert|60|ft|m}} off the ground.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', p. 115.</ref> The Skyride was moved to the [[Puyallup Fair]]grounds in 1980.<ref>Lisa Zigweid. [http://www.rollercoastersofthepacificnw.com/pages/galaxy.html Galaxy/Wild Mouse, Fun Forest, Seattle, WA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017060811/http://rollercoastersofthepacificnw.com/pages/galaxy.html |date=October 17, 2007 }}, Defunct Coasters, Roller Coasters of the Pacific Northwest. Accessed online November 18, 2007.</ref>

=== World of Science ===
[[File:Science pavilion at Century 21 Exposition, 1962.jpg|thumb|The Federal Science Pavilion, "a virtual cathedral of science".<ref name=Yamasaki />]]
The World of Science centered on the United States Science Exhibit. It also included a [[NASA]] Exhibit that included models and mockups of various [[satellite]]s, as well as the [[Project Mercury]] capsule that had carried [[Alan Shepard]] into space.<ref name=science>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 8–24.</ref> These exhibits were the federal government's major contribution to the fair.<ref name=Berger /><ref name=Thiry-oral />

The United States Science Exhibit began with [[Charles Eames]]'  10-minute short film ''The House of Science'', followed by an exhibit on the development of science, ranging from mathematics and astronomy to atomic science and genetics. The Spacearium held up to 750&nbsp;people at a time for a simulated voyage first through the [[Solar System]] and then through the [[Milky Way Galaxy]] and beyond. Further exhibits presented the [[scientific method]] and the "horizons of science". This last looked at "Science and the individual", "Control of man's physical surroundings", "Science and the problem of [[world population]]", and "Man's concept of his place in an increasingly technological world".<ref name=science />

===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 {{convert|160000|sqft|adj=on}} building suitable to hold a variety of exhibition spaces and equally suitable for later conversion to a sports arena and convention facility.<ref name=Thiry-oral />

[[File:Pavilion of Electric Power at Century 21 Exposition, 1962.jpg|thumb|Pavilion of Electric Power]]
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, [[Pan American World Airways]] (Pan Am), [[General Motors]] (GM), the [[American Library Association]] (ALA), and [[RCA]], as well as a Washington state tourist center.<ref name=Threshold>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 26–34.</ref>

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]].<ref name=Threshold />

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 [[gyrocopter]]); a series of projections contrasted this "best of the future" to "the worst of the present" (over-uniform suburbs, a dreary urban housing project).<ref name=Threshold />
[[File:General Motors exhibit at Century 21 Exposition, 1962.jpg|thumb|GM's Firebird III]]
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.<ref name=Threshold />

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 [[s:John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address|President Kennedy's Inaugural Address]], followed by a further "symphony of music and color".<ref name=Threshold />

Under the same roof, the ALA exhibited a "library of the future" (centered on a [[Univac]] computer). GM exhibited its vision for highways and vehicles of the future (the latter including the [[General Motors Firebird#Firebird III|Firebird III]]). Pan Am exhibited a giant globe that emphasized the notion that we had come to be able to think of distances between major world cities in hours and minutes rather than in terms of chancy voyages over great distances. RCA (which produced "The Threshold and the Threat") exhibited television, radio, and stereo technology, as well as its involvement in space. The French government had an exhibit with its own take on technological progress. Finally, a Washington state tourist center provided information for fair-goers wishing to tour the state.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 35–40.</ref>

===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.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', p. 42.</ref> It included the Space Needle and what is now the Broad Street Green and Mural Amphitheater.<ref name=walking /> The Hall of Industry and some smaller buildings were immediately north of American Way.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', Map p. 43.</ref> The latter included 15&nbsp;governmental exhibitors and surrounded the World of Tomorrow and extended to the north edge of the fair.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', p. 42, Map p. 71.</ref>

Among the features of Domestic Commerce and Industry, the massive Interiors, Fashion, and Commerce Building spread for {{convert|500|ft|m}}—nearly the entire Broad Street side of the grounds—with exhibits ranging from 32&nbsp;separate furniture companies to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref name=domestic>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 45–68.</ref> ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' produced four fashion shows daily alongside a perfumed pool.<ref name=Boswell /> The [[Ford Motor Company]], in its pavilion, presented a simulated space flight and its vision for the car of the future, the [[Ford Seattle-ite XXI]]. The Electric Power Pavilion included a {{convert|40|ft|m}}-high fountain made to look like a [[hydroelectric dam]], with the entrance to the pavilion through a tunnel in said "dam". The Forest Products Pavilion was surrounded by a grove of trees of various species, and included an all-wood theater and a [[Society of American Foresters]] exhibit.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://foresthistory.org/seattle-worlds-fair-1962/ |title=Wood in the Space Age: Forest Products at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair |date=April 21, 2022 |access-date=April 21, 2022 |publisher=Forest History Society}}</ref> [[Chevron Corporation|Standard Oil of California]] celebrated, among other things, the fact that the world's first service station opened in Seattle in 1907.<ref name="domestic" />  The fair's [[Bell Telephone Company|Bell Telephone]]  (now [[AT&T Inc.]]) exhibit was featured in a short film called "Century 21 Calling...",<ref>The [[Internet Archive]] offers "[https://archive.org/details/Century21964 Century 21 Calling...]" online. Accessed October 19, 2007.</ref> which was later shown on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.<ref>''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', "Episode #906: Space Children".</ref> There were also several religious pavilions.<ref name=domestic /> Near the center of all this was Seattle artist [[Paul Horiuchi]]'s massive mosaic mural, the region's largest work of art at the time, which now forms the backdrop of Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater.<ref name=domestic />
[[File:Canada Building at World's Fair, 1962.jpg|thumb|DuPen Fountain and the Canada Building]]
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 [[Taiwan]] and South Korea pavilions showed their rapid industrialization to the world and the benefits of capitalism over communism during the time of cold war era. Other pavilions included one featuring Brazilian tea and coffee; a European Communities Pavilion from the then six countries of the [[European Community|European Economic Community]]; and a joint pavilion by those countries of Africa that had by then achieved independence. Sweden's exhibit included the story of the salvaging of a 17th-century [[man-of-war]] from [[Stockholm]] harbor, and San Marino's exhibit featured its postage stamps and pottery. Near the center of this was the DuPen Fountain featuring three sculptures by Seattle artist Everett DuPen.<ref name=foreign>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 70–84.</ref>

===World of Art===
[[File:IngresOdipusAndSphinx.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres|Ingres]]' ''[[Oedipus and the Sphinx (Ingres)|Oedipus and the Sphinx]]'' was among the works displayed in the Fine Arts Pavilion.]]
The Fine Arts Pavilion (later the Exhibition Hall) brought together an art exhibition unprecedented for the [[West Coast of the United States]]. Among the 50&nbsp;contemporary American painters whose works shown were [[Josef Albers]], [[Willem de Kooning]], [[Helen Frankenthaler]], [[Philip Guston]], [[Jasper Johns]], [[Joan Mitchell]], [[Robert Motherwell]], [[Georgia O'Keeffe]], [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Robert Rauschenberg]], [[Ad Reinhardt]], [[Ben Shahn]], and [[Frank Stella]], as well as Northwest painters [[Kenneth Callahan]], [[Morris Graves]], Paul Horiuchi, and [[Mark Tobey]]. American sculptors included [[Leonard Baskin]], [[Alexander Calder]], [[Joseph Cornell]], [[Louise Nevelson]], [[Isamu Noguchi]], and 19&nbsp;others. The 50&nbsp;international contemporary artists represented included the likes of painters [[Fritz Hundertwasser]], [[Joan Miró]], [[Antoni Tàpies]], and [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]], and sculptors [[Henry Moore]] and [[Jean Arp]]. In addition, there were exhibitions of Mark Tobey's paintings and of Asian art, drawn from the collections of the Seattle Art Museum; and an additional exhibition of 72&nbsp;"masterpieces" ranging from [[Titian]], [[El Greco]], [[Michelangelo Caravaggio|Caravaggio]], [[Rembrandt]], and [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] through [[Henri Toulouse-Lautrec|Toulouse-Lautrec]], [[Claude Monet|Monet]], and [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]] to [[Paul Klee|Klee]], [[Georges Braque|Braque]], and [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], with no shortage of other comparably famous artists represented.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 88–95.</ref>

[[File:Igor Stravinsky LOC 32392u.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Igor Stravinsky]]]]
A separate gallery presented [[Northwest Coast art|Northwest Coast Indian art]], and featured a series of large paintings by [[Bill Holm (art historian)|Bill Holm]] introducing Northwest Native motifs.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', p. 96.</ref>

===World of Entertainment===
A US$15 million performing-arts program at the fair ranged from a [[boxing]] championship to an international [[twirling]] competition but with no shortage of nationally and internationally famous performers, especially at the new Opera House and Playhouse.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 98–99.</ref> After the fair, the Playhouse became the [[Seattle Repertory Theatre]]; in the mid-1980s it became the [[Intiman Playhouse]].<ref>[http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=156511937 Summary for 201 Mercer ST / Parcel ID 1988200440 / Inv # CTR008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520174152/http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=156511937 |date=May 20, 2011 }}, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online October 19, 2007.</ref> When the Intiman Theatre became financially unstable, [[Cornish College of the Arts]] took over the lease from the city of Seattle, and now operates it as the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jacobson |first=Lynn |date=May 6, 2013 |title=New Name, Same Theater at Seattle Center |url=http://blogs.seattletimes.com/artspage/2013/05/06/new-name-same-theater-at-seattle-center/ |work=The Seattle Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229080128/http://blogs.seattletimes.com/artspage/2013/05/06/new-name-same-theater-at-seattle-center/ |archive-date=December 29, 2013 |access-date=August 22, 2014}}</ref>

====Opera House performances====
Scheduled groups performing at the Opera House included:
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:JoshWhite1945.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Josh White]] (1945)<br />Photo credit: The Estate of Josh White (Sr.) and the Josh White Archives]] --><!-- photo credit required by terms of license, no other limitations on use -->
<small>Source:<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 100–103.</ref></small>
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! 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||[[Joseph Dunninger|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 [[Old Vic]] Company ([[Shakespeare]] performances)
|-
|June 7, June 9,<br /> June 11||Seattle Symphony production of [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] ''[[Aida]]'', featuring [[Gloria Davy]], [[Sandor Konya]], [[Irene Dalis]], [[Robert Merrill]], and [[Jan Rubeš]]
|-
|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||[[Barbershop Harmony Society|SPEBSQSA]] Barbershop Quartet Song Fest
|-
|July 9–14||[[Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company|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 Radio Orchestra|CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra]]
|-
|September 18–23||[[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] ([[Gilbert and Sullivan]] [[operetta]]s)
|-
|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||[[United States Marine Band|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====
[[File:Les Poupées de Paris Marty Krofft 1962.jpg|thumb|190px|[[Marty Krofft]] displays the puppets of ''[[Les Poupées de Paris]]'' backstage]]
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|Tommy Bartlett's]] Water Ski Sky and Stage Show, [[Roy Rogers]] and [[Dale Evans]]'  Western Show, and an appearance by evangelist [[Billy Graham]].<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 104–109.</ref>

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 [[KCTS-TV]] studios<ref name=walking />), Show Street was the "[[adult entertainment]]" portion of the fair. Attractions included Gracie Hansen's Paradise International (a [[Las Vegas Valley|Vegas]]-style floor show (rivalled next door by [[LeRoy Prinz]]'s "Backstage USA")), [[Sid and Marty Krofft]]'s adults-only puppet show, ''[[Les Poupées de Paris]]'', and (briefly, until it was shut down) a show featuring naked "Girls of the Galaxy".<ref>Alan J. Stein, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2291 Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119061010/http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2291 |date=November 19, 2007 }}, HistoryLink.org Essay 2291, April 19, 2000. Accessed October 20, 2007.</ref><ref name=Show-Street>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 110–114.</ref> Tamer entertainment came in forms such as the Paris Spectacular [[wax museum]], an elaborate Japanese Village, and the Hawaiian Pavilion.<ref name=Show-Street />

===Other sections of the fair===
[[File:Seattle world fair stamp.jpg|thumb|A commemorative postage stamp]]
;Gayway: The Gayway was a small amusement park; after the fair it became the Fun Forest.<ref name=walking /> It included such rides as the Flight to Mars, a [[Dark ride|dark amusement ride]] themed around space pirates on Mars, decorated with [[black light]]s and glow paint.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003792500_flightmars.html |title=Seattle Times – Flight to Mars Amusement Ride Was Rite of Passage |access-date=April 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 20, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820021837/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003792500_flightmars.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011, the Fun Forest was shut down and the [[Chihuly Garden and Glass]] opened in its place.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ho |first=Vanessa |date=September 3, 2013 |title=Seattle Center Fun Forest: Remember These Rides? |url=https://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2013/09/03/seattle-center-fun-forest-remember-these-rides-2/ |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |access-date=March 6, 2020 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919133809/https://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2013/09/03/seattle-center-fun-forest-remember-these-rides-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
;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.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 119–131.</ref>
;Exhibit Fair: The Exhibit Fair provided another shopping district under the north stands of Memorial Stadium.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', p. 133.</ref>
;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.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 135–136.</ref>
;Food Circus: The Food Circus was a [[food court]] in the [[Seattle Center Armory|former armory]], later named the Center House, and renamed the Armory in 2012 as a remodel of the building continues. Unlike the current arrangement with a stage and a large open space for dancing, events, and temporary booths, many food booths were in the middle of the room as well as at the edges. There were 52&nbsp;concessionaires in all, nine of them with exhibits in addition to their food for sale.<ref>''Official Guide Book'', pp. 137–139.</ref> Beginning in 1963, the Food Circus also housed a variety of museums, including [[Jones' Fantastic Show]], the Jules Charbneau World of Miniatures, and the Pullen Klondike Museum.<ref>{{cite news
 | title = Center's triple header: Three new museums to open
 | author = Stanton H. Patty
 | newspaper = Seattle Times
 | date = October 4, 1963
}}</ref>

==Promotional video==
[[File:1962 Seattle World's Fair commercial.ogv]]

==See also==
* [[List of world expositions]]
* [[List of world's fairs]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* ''Official Guide Book: Seattle World's Fair 1962'', Acme Publications: Seattle (1962)

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/1962-seattle Official website of the BIE]
* [http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7042 A "cybertour" of the exposition] at HistoryLink.
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2290 Century 21 – The 1962 Seattle World's Fair] at HistoryLink
* [http://cdm15015.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15015coll3 Century 21 Digital Collection from the Seattle Public Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608201759/http://cdm15015.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15015coll3 |date=June 8, 2013 }} – over 1800 related photos, advertisements, reports, programs, postcards, brochures, and more.
* "Seattle Center", p.&nbsp;18–24 in [https://web.archive.org/web/20081031053514/http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ContextCityOwnedHistoricResourcesSurveyReport.pdf 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.
* [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/seattle/searchterm/Century%2021%20Exposition/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc/cosuppress/0 Seattle Photographs Collection, Century 21 Exposition] – University of Washington Digital Collection
* [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/ptec/searchterm/Century%2021%20Exposition/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc/cosuppress/1 Pamphlet and Textual Ephemera Collection, Century 21 Exposition documents] – University of Washington Digital Collection

{{List of world's fairs in the United States}}
{{Seattle Center}}
{{List of world exhibitions}}
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[[Category:Century 21 Exposition| ]]
[[Category:1962 in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:1962 festivals]]
[[Category:1960s in Seattle]]
[[Category:Seattle Center]]
[[Category:History of the West Coast of the United States]]
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