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Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.

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This Week Then

4/17/2025

Giant egg sculpture, Winlock, 1923

News Then, History Now

Room to Grow

Four years after the Woman's Book Club of Everett petitioned the city for a free public library, the Everett Public Library opened on April 21, 1898. Located in three upstairs rooms at City Hall, the library quickly outgrew its space and moved into a new Carnegie-funded building in 1905.

Take in a Show

On April 19, 1929, the Fox Theatre became the last movie house to open in Seattle before the stock market crashed later that year. After new owners renovated the theater and renamed it the Roxy, the venue became the target of a mysterious bombing incident on April 17, 1933. In 1991, despite Allied Arts' best efforts, a wrecking ball demolished the theater, which had been renamed the Music Hall.

On the Go

On April 18, 1942, Major Ensley Llewellyn of Tacoma published the first edition of the World War II Stars and Stripes newspaper, under the direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some of the airmen from McChord Field probably didn't get a chance to read it, as they had just flown off to take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan the same day.

Strike for More Pay

One of Washington's longest and nastiest strikes began on April 22, 1948, when aeromechanics walked out of Boeing. Group Health Cooperative expressed solidarity with the machinists, but the strike took a peculiar twist when Boeing allied with Teamsters leader Dave Beck to lure workers into an alternative union local. The IAM beat back Beck, but returned to work after six months with no new contract.

Opening Day

Century 21 – America’s Space Age World’s Fair – opened in Seattle on April 21, 1962, and for the rest of that summer visitors got an optimistic glimpse of things to come, even though the fair got off to a rocky start and almost ended with a bang.

On Their Way

When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, Washington Senator Warren Magnuson was one of the few voices in Congress who argued for normalized relations between the two nations, noting that trade and contact were the best means to influence what many called the "Red Monolith." It wasn't until April 18, 1979 that the trade embargo ended when the cargo ship M.V. Liu Lin Hai arrived in Seattle.

 

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Tacoma Dome

The Tacoma Dome opened on April 21, 1983.

Quote of the Week

"Although I cannot lay an egg, I am a very good judge of omelettes."

–George Bernard Shaw

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