Monuments and Memorials of Seattle

Space Needle
When one thinks of Seattle, along with images of cloudy gray skies and rain, the Space Needle comes to mind. The Space Needle is a symbol of Seattle, built for the 1962 World's Fair. However, unlike most other monuments and memorials, the Space Needle holds little history behind its construction. It was simply built for the World's Fair to showcase the technological strides into the future. In fact, the Space Needle very nearly did not make it into the World's Fair as they lacked an actual building location just 13 months before the fair's opening. Since it's construction, its status as the symbol of Seattle has been strengthened with New Years' fireworks celebrations launched off of the needle each year among other events.













Seattle Underground
A slightly lesser known Seattle memorial is the Underground. In 1889 a spilled flaming glue pot led to the destruction of 33 wooden city blocks. In response to this disaster, city officials decided not to rebuild the city. Instead, a decree was issued ordering all new buildings to be built from brick or stone. In addition, the city was to be raised two stories. Seattle was originally built on tide flats and typically suffered from flooding during high tide. In addition, flush toilets would no longer back up. However, the underground remains as a memorial to Seattle's humble beginnings.


Boeing Factory
The Boeing Factory and its respective tour is another monument of sorts. Home of the Boeing 747 and other commercial airplanes, the Boeing factory in Everett hosts tours of their facilities as another attraction for visitors. This serves both as a museum and monument to Boeing's past as well as a view into their current production. However, unlike most monuments or memorials, this exists solely for commercial gain.