On December 17, 1971, eight months after voting to approve a site in north Ballard for the new Seattle Aquarium, the Seattle City Council votes to reverse itself and to bar the aquarium from being loc...
On January 1, 1972, Seattle heart surgeon Lester R. Sauvage (1926-2015) and his associates at the Reconstructive Cardiovascular Research Center publish Prosthetic Replacement of the Aortic Valve, summ...
On January 25, 1972, Pacific Car and Foundry Co. becomes PACCAR Inc. The name change reflects the evolution of the company since it first began manufacturing logging trucks on tideflats in Humphrey (W...
In a special election on February 8, 1972, Seattle voters endorse the City Council's cancelation of the R. H. Thomson Expressway, a planned third north-south highway through Seattle (in addition to St...
In 1972, Tacoma joins in construction of two nuclear power plants under construction by the Washington Public Power Supply System -- WPPSS -- in Hanford and at Satsop in Grays Harbor County. The move ...
In the spring of 1972, Seattle Rape Relief, the first rape crisis center in the United States, begins work.
In the spring of 1972, Sagemoor manager John Pringle begins planting 280 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling vines on two of Sagemoor's vineyards, Sagemoor and Bacchus, situated...
At about 12:51 p.m. on April 5, 1972, a severe (category F3) tornado strikes the eastern part of Vancouver, Washington. The tornado demolishes the Peter Skene Ogden Elementary School, then sweeps thr...
On Sunday May 14, 1972, a major reunion of first-generation Pacific Northwest rockers is showcased at Seattle’s grand Paramount Theatre (911 Pine Street). Billed as the Northwest Ro...
On May 31, 1972, retired Fire Chief Gordon Vickery (1920-1996) becomes superintendent of Seattle City Light. Vickery takes over a utility that is a "patronage-laden caste system of uncivil servants" (...
The King County Youth Services Center (YSC), which houses the county's Juvenile Detention Center, Juvenile Court, and Juvenile Court Services, dedicates its first library on June 11, 1972. The library...
On July 1, 1972, Group Health Cooperative's Olympia Medical Center opens. This comes about less a result of Group Health planning than a combination of circumstances and a few savvy organizers in Thur...