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...
On July 3, 1972, the Seattle City Council votes to site the new Seattle Aquarium at piers 60 and 61 in the central waterfront. The vote is 5-4. Neighboring Pier 59 later becomes the actual site.
On July 4, 1972, an errant skyrocket veers off course during a Fourth of July fireworks show at the Seattle Center. The five-inch shell lands in a large crowd just north of the International Fountain ...
On the sunny Friday afternoon of July 21, 1972, the Mayor's Arts Festival '72 presents a performance by a zany local theatrical collective called the One Reel Vaudeville Show. The festival itself had ...
On September 2, 1972, Washington State University's cooperative extension agents unveil a Master Gardener Program at Tacoma Mall and seed an international urban-horticulture institution. The program w...
On September 2, 1972, the final section of the North Cascades Highway (State Route 20) opens, completing a project nearly 80 years in the making. The road was originally begun in the 1890s with plans ...
On September 6, 1972 -- the first day of the new school year -- the Seattle School District implements a mandatory busing plan to achieve racial balance in selected middle schools.
On September 19, 1972, King County voters approve a 0.3 percent sales tax to fund a county-wide bus system operated by Metro (the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle). Seattle voters simultaneously r...
On October 11, 1972, Chicano activists led by Roberto Maestas (1938-2010) occupy the abandoned Beacon Hill School, 2524 16th Avenue S, Seattle. Maestas founds El Centro de la Raza, (Center of the Peop...