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Investigation--Traditions
Space Needle-Seattle
In 1957, Joe Grandy of Ford Motors and Eddie Carlson of Western International Hotels got the idea from science fiction magazines about creating a new kind of structure. They wanted to show something for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. They came up with an idea and decided to create the Space Needle.
U.S. Congress gave nine million dollars to create the U.S. Science Pavilion. A man named John Graham had a lot of ideas about the design for Space Needle. By the fall of 1960, they couldn’t find the funding or location. By November 1st, they found a location, the fairgrounds and a fire station. They purchased it for $75,000. The World Fair theme was “The Space Age” and the Space Needle would be a perfect building for this venue.
The Space Needle began building in March, only 14 months before the fair. To start, it took 11 days to dig a hole of 30 feet deep and 120 feet wide. More than 250 tons of steel and 5,850 tons of concrete were used in the construction. The top of the Space Needle is 605 feet tall. The workers who built the Space Needle earned $3.92 per hour (that’s at 1962 wages). You can find the color themes the used in the building, which are “astronaut” white, “orbital” olive, “galaxy” gold, and “reentry” red.
It was built from 1961 to 1962 and opened on April 21, 1962. The total cost was $4.5 million dollars. The Space Needle is one of America’s best known landmarks and was named a National Landmark in 1999. It is popular as an observation deck overlooking the city and the rotating restaurant at the top is a favorite of many people. Even fireworks are launched from the top!
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