FUN FACTS ABOUT SEATTLE

•  Smith Tower, a 42-story building constructed in 1914, was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Now the top floors are condos.
•  When the Space Needle was built in 1962 for the Seattle World’s Fair, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.
• Mr. Carlson’s vision for the space-age tower was inspired by the Stuttgart Tower in Germany.
• The Boeing Company, founded in the Seattle area by William Boeing, was originally a boat company. Mr. Boeing was fascinated with flying and airplanes.
• The Klondike gold rush greatest boom period for Seattle after gold was discovered in Canada’s Klondike region in August 1896. Seattle established itself as the jumping-off point for transportation to and from Alaska and the gold fields of the Yukon.
•  George Vancouver was the first European to visit Seattle in May 1792 during his 4-year-long expedition to chart the Pacific Northwest.
• Seattle was first economic growth boom was built on the timber industry. Early arriving developers converted a forest of trees more than a 1000 years old and 400 feet high into logs, and then milled timber for shipping to San Francisco.
• Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain. You can buy a unique mug (if you collect them) at the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market, first opened in 1971.
• At 76 stories and 937 feet, the black-colored Columbia Center is Seattle’s tallest building and is 12th tallest building in the country. Locals nicknamed it the “Darth Vader” building.
• Seattle is the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix while Bing Crosby was born in nearby Tacoma.
• Seattle was the first city in the US to play a Beatles song on the radio.
• Seattle has the second-highest per capita rate of live music performances in the United States. New York City is first.
• The Washington State Ferry System is the largest in the country and the third largest in the world, carrying more than 25 million passengers each year.