On May 6, 1978, Barbara "Bonnie" Beers graduates as the first fulltime professional woman firefighter in the 89-year history of the Seattle Fire Department. Beers, who first applied for a firefighter ...
In May 1978, the Group Health Board of Trustees elects its first African American president, Ida Chambliss (d. 1983). She will serve as president through 1979. Chambliss, raised in Alabama with 14 bro...
At 2:38 a.m., June 11, 1978, the freighter Chavez rams the West Seattle Bridge over the Duwamish West Waterway, thereby closing it to automobile traffic for the next six years.
On June 17, 1978, a life-size, cast-aluminum sculpture depicting five adults, a child-in-arms, and a dog with a human face, all waiting for a trolley car, is dedicated at noon in Seattle's Fremont nei...
On July 15, 1978, Treasures of Tutankhamun, an exhibit of 55 artifacts from the famous tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, opens at the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion, where it will run until November 15. Tut...
In 1978, the Rainier Club, previously an exclusive (white) gentleman's club, admits to membership for the first time an African American and a woman. Luther Carr, a prominent black contractor, becomes...
On July 27, 1978, Congress passes the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA). The legislation protects the rights of Native peoples to practice their religions and requires federal agencies to ...
In August 1978, the Seattle City Council appoints Dolores Sibonga (b.1931), the first Filipina American lawyer in Washington state, to the Seattle City Council. She is elected the following March and ...
On August 19, 1978, Seattle and King County officials gather to inaugurate 12.1 miles of the Burke-Gilman Trail, built along a former rail corridor previously owned by Burlington Northern Railroad. Th...
On September 29, 1978, the Seattle School District begins mandatory, district-wide busing of students to achieve racial balance. Limited mandatory busing (involving four middle schools) had been in ef...
On October 13, 1978, a new section of Interstate 90 opens to traffic, bypassing the city of North Bend. This eliminates Washington's last I-90 stoplight, which was in downtown North Bend when the high...
On Sunday evening, October 22, 1978, federal agents conduct drug raids on Barnes Island in the San Juan Islands and at a stash-house in Sumas, Whatcom County, arrest six men and seize 91 bales of mari...