Construction was completed by December of 1961. Four months later the Seattle World's Fair, known as the Century 21 Exposition, opened, on April 22, 1962, with the first visitors taking the elevator ride to the top of the needle.
The legend of the Space Needle has it that it started in 1959 with a sketch on a napkin. Edward Carlson, at the time the president of Western International Hotels, had been inspired by the Stuttgart Tower in Germany, and so he drew a futuristic looking tower.
The final design had a flying saucer with a rotating restaurant at the top.
And thus one of the most iconic images of the Pacific Northwest was born.
I did not realize until I read it somewhere recently, that the residential towers in the Jetsons cartoon, back in the early 60s, had been inspired by the Space Needle.
