On September 19, 1979, the Port of Pend Oreille celebrates its purchase of a 61-mile railroad line from the bankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (known as the Milwaukee Road) by present...
On October 3, 1979, the Dalai Lama arrives in Seattle during the first United States visit by the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. The historic three-day event includes meetings with local Tibet...
On October 4, 1979, Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood (Snohomish County) opens. Developed by mall mogul Edward DeBartolo Sr., it becomes an instant hit both for shoppers and walkers who enjoy strolling the...
On October 6, 1979, at the beginning of Marine Mammal Week, the Seattle Aquarium kicks off a $470,000 expansion project. The project will expand the first floor to the west at Pier 59 and demolish Pie...
On Sunday evening, October 14, 1979, seven inmates escape from the high security jail on the 10th floor of the King County Courthouse in the county's bloodiest jailbreak. Using a gun smuggled into the...
On October 31, 1979, The Rocket appears on Seattle streets as a special edition of The Seattle Sun, reporting the local music scene. The monthly tabloid is distributed free of charge and will ultimate...
On November 2, 1979, artist and designer Robert Morris (b. 1931) makes the final inspection of his Untitled Earthwork (Johnson Pit #30) in south King County in what a decade later will become the City...
On November 4, 1979, the Seahawks play the worst game in Kingdome (and National Football League) history. This file relates the disaster of the 24-0 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, play by non-play.
On November 6, 1979, King County voters approve a $50 million Farmland Preservation bond to buy and preserve farmland and open-space in King County. It is considered a historic vote -- the first time ...
On November 6, 1979, voters resoundingly reject a King County proposal to absorb the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle and its water quality and transit services. They vote nearly three to one to p...
In December 1979, Radio KDNA, based in the Yakima Valley in Granger, Washington, goes on the air. Radio KDNA is the first radio station to dedicate its entire programming to the Spanish-speaking popul...
On December 15, 1979, a total of 103,152 Boeing employees and their families attend a company Christmas party in Seattle's Kingdome. The party is so large it is split into two events to accommodate th...
The Census Bureau continues to refine its methodology in the 1980 census, with nearly 95 percent of the U.S. population now counted using only a "mail-out/mail-back" questionnaire. Another major chang...
In 1980, the U.S. Coast Guard opens its National Motor Lifeboat School at Ilwaco. This builds on a history of wreck and rescue at the mouth of the Columbia River, often dubbed the Graveyard of the Pac...
In April 1980, Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products in Tukwila, writes QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the Intel 8086 microprocesser (or chip), at the time the most advanced chip for...
On April 2, 1980, House of Representatives co-Speaker John Bagnariol (ca. 1932-2009) and Senate Majority Leader Gordon L. Walgren are named in a federal racketeering indictment that charges they consp...
On April 30, 1980, bus driver Harlan Rosford (1917-1995) makes his last run, after 26 years of service between Vashon Island and Seattle. Rosford was well-loved by generations of passengers, and was k...
On May 10, 1980, the three Columbia Basin Irrigation Districts, the Quincy, East, and South Districts, enter into an agreement whereby they will construct, operate, and maintain powerplants at several...
On May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., the earth rumbles underneath Mount St. Helens in Skamania County in southwestern Washington. Moments later an explosion blasts away a side of the mountain in a ...
At 8:32 a.m. Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Southwest Washington ends months of geologic suspense and erupts, blasting tons of Burlington Northern Railroad property into the air and...
On May 19, 1980, Peter P. Bement, a longtime supporter of restoring aviation to the former Naval Air Station in Magnuson Park at Sand Point in Seattle, loses an appeal to set aside the defeat of an in...
On May 20, 1980, two days after the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, some 2,500 motorists -- more than Ritzville's own population -- are stuck in Ritzville. They are jammed into school gyms, ho...
From June 6 to 11, 1980, the Metrocenter branch of the Young Men's Christian Association hosts CityFair, a five-day event intended to help people lower costs and improve the quality of life in the cit...
On July 20 (and 21), 1980, a big musical reunion -- promoted as "The Great Northwest Rock and Roll Show," and spotlighting many luminaries of the Pacific Northwest's 1950s teenage rock scene -- is hel...