Ford World's Fair Pavilion Moves To Edmonds

It was 1962.

Americans were building bomb shelters while schools drilled children to prepare for air raids and nuclear attacks. The Cuban and Soviet governments had begun secretly amassing nuclear weapons in Cuba, which would lead later that year to the Cuban Missile Crisis and raise fears of imminent thermonuclear war.

The cold war was at its height, and the world had become a scary place.

February saw John Glenn become the first American to orbit the earth, 10 months behind Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

The space race was on, and the US was playing catch-up.

Amid this, in the summer of 1962, the world took time out for fun. Nearly 10 million people from all corners of the world came to Seattle for the Century 21 Exposition, better known today as the Seattle World’s Fair.

Century 21 gave Seattle its first major international exposure and was a driving force in positioning Seattle as a world-class city. In addition to world-wide press coverage, the fair and the city were the setting of the Elvis Presley movie "It Happened at the World's Fair," featuring a young Kurt Russell in his first screen appearance.

The Fair left behind a legacy of buildings, grounds and attractions that formed the core of today’s Seattle Center. It gave us the Space Needle and Alweg monorail, as well as several sports venues and performing arts buildings (most of which have since been replaced or heavily remodeled). The United States Science Pavilion is now the Pacific Science Center. Another notable Seattle Center building, the Experience Music Project, was deliberately designed to fit in with the fairground atmosphere, but was built nearly 40 years later.

But many other structures and attractions were demolished when the fair closed. One in particular, the geodesic dome Ford Pavilion, escaped the wrecking ball. It was relocated several miles north to the City of Edmonds, where it was reconstructed on the Edmonds waterfront next to the Surf and Sand Marina, later to become the . It served for several years as a yacht sales office and showroom, and became something of a local landmark.

The first and second photos, both taken from old post cards, show the Ford Dome in place at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. It was located at the west entrance, near the intersection of Broad Street and Denny Way. And here’s some trivia for auto enthusiasts: In honor of Seattle as the fair’s host city, the Ford designers came up with a futuristic six-wheeled concept car (see third photo). Named the Seattle-ite (sounds like “satellite”), it was a centerpiece of the Ford exhibit. While the design played well in this post-Sputnik era, it looks dated today. But wouldn't you love to drive it? I would!

The fourth photo shows the dome being reconstructed on the Edmonds waterfront in late 1962, and the fifth shows the completed structure. The sixth photo, an aerial shot, shows the dome in place. Located just south of the ferry terminal, it occupied the space now taken by the 144 Railroad Avenue office building directly adjacent to the Surf and Sand Marina, now the .

The dome served as a yacht sales center until the late 1960’s. It appears to have gone out of business about that time, and is not connected with today’s Edmonds Yacht Sales located in the Port of Edmonds Building.

The last two shots of the Edmonds waterfront north of the fishing pier were taken in 1970 and 2011 respectively. In the first, the partially dismantled dome can still be seen in the background. It was completely gone shortly after this photo was taken. The companion photo shows the same scene today.