It was not all that easy to build, though. Surprisingly, nobody died in the construction of the Space Needle. However, three people have died from jumping off of the Space Needle to commit suicide. (Crowley, Walt)

The Space Needle was built for the Century 21 Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. (World Book encyclopedia) It was built as a symbol of the United States’ space program. At the time, the United States was trying to get a man on the moon before the Soviets, or Russia, did. (Carleson, Laurie Winn and Green, Michael K.)

Eddie Carlson came up with the general shape of the Space Needle in 1959. The Space Needle design went through many transformations in the drawing stage. It started with a tethered balloon shape, and then went to a balloon shaped top house on a central column anchored by cables. The designer of the world’s first shopping mall, John Graham, changed the balloon design to a flying saucer. (spaceneedleinfo.com)

There was one problem, though. King County wouldn’t fund the Space Needle, but that is explained later. After some improvements, construction started on April 17, 1961. It took less than a year to build, and was topped on December 8, 1961.

The Space Needle rises to six hundred five feet tall, which is about 185 meters. (World Book encyclopedia) This is approximately one thousand three hundred twenty Milky Way candy bars stacked. Its center of gravity is approximately five feet above the ground. The Space Needle has one hundred twenty square feet underground, and thirty feet deep. (Craven, Jackie) It took four hundred sixty seven cement trucks and twelve hours to fill the hole. It was the longest continuous concrete pour attempted in the West. It is one hundred thirty eight feet wide, but it expands about an inch in hot weather, and weighs three thousand seven hundred tons. The foundation weighs five thousand eight hundred fifty tons, which makes a total of nine thousand five hundred fifty tons.  Seventy-four thirty-two foot long bolts anchor the Space Needle. (Crowley, Walt) When the Space Needle was almost finished, the final coats of paint were added. To go with the Century 21 theme, the colors were called Astronaut White for the legs, Orbital Olive for the core, Re-entry Red for the halo, and Galaxy Gold for the Roof. The Space Needle will withstand wind up to two hundred miles per hour, but some storms still cause it to close. Earthquakes have caused it to sway, but it obviously hasn’t fallen over yet. (Craven, Jackie) The Space Needle can withstand all of that because the architects built it to double most of or all of the state’s regulations. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

When it was time to start building the Space Needle, King County refused to fund it. Financer Bagley Wright, financer Ned Skinner, timber magnate Norton Clapp, architect John Graham Jr., and contractor Howard S. Wright then got together and formed the Pentagram Corporation to pay for the Space Needle. The land for the Space Needle cost $75,000, and is still in private ownership of the Pentagram Corporation. Total, the Space Needle cost $4.5 million. (Crowley, Walt) Later, another town in Washington, Fife, offered $1 million to move the Space Needle to their town. Obviously, Seattle refused and decided to keep the Space Needle. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

The Space Needle also has two restaurants. One restaurant is at the one hundred foot level and the other is at the five hundred foot level. The idea for a restaurant in the sky came from Stuttgart, Germany, when Eddie Carlson dined in a restaurant at the city’s broadcast tower. The idea for the revolving restaurant came from Honolulu, Hawaii. People became convinced that the World’s Fair needed a restaurant in the sky, and it became the second revolving restaurant in the world. The first restaurant that was built was the one at the five hundred foot level, and is called SkyCity restaurant. It is circular and rotates about one time in one hour. (Destination360.com) It is powered with a 1.5 horsepower electric motor. The restaurant held a gala, or festive celebration, after the Space Needle was finished. During the World’s fair, the Space Needle attracted 2.3 million visitors. The number of people going began to decrease, so they built a second restaurant to attract more people. The one hundred foot level, called the SkyLine restaurant, was finished on May 19, 1982. It was nicknamed the “Wheedle in the Needle.” (Crowley, Walt)

It took a long time for Washington State to allow the Space Needle to become an official historic landmark. It was finally approved on April 19, 1999. It was the first structure to be approved on the basis of all six-designation criteria. A couple of those criteria include architectural merit and historic and physical prominence. (Crowley, Walt)

The Space Needle has been used for many movies and stunts, and possibly a prank or two on the first manager, who had acrophobia, or fear of heights. It was in three movies: “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” “The Parallax View,” and one of the Austin Powers movies. (Crowley, Walt) Many celebrities have visited the Space Needle. Some of them include Kelsey Grammer, the entire staff of Cheers, Elvis Presley, Mike Meyers, Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, John Travolta, Vanna White, Michael Douglas, Tim Robbins, Claudia Schiffer, Scott Bakula, and Paul Reiser. There have also been many professional athletes, several famous musicians, and a lot of world leaders and dignitaries. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

One year, for and April Fools joke, the news aired a report that the Space Needle had fallen over. Emergency lines received over seven hundred calls for the Space Needle. During the report, there had been a flashing alert telling the audience that it was a joke. One man had even got in his car and drove to the Space Needle to check on his daughter, who had worked there. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

At one point, people wanted to put a stork’s nest on top of the Space Needle. These plans were cancelled when they found out that a stork couldn’t live in Seattle’s climate, because they need warmer weather.

The Space Needle has also been a prop for many high wire acts and six parachute jumps. Two of the parachute jumps were unauthorized and the other four were part of a promotion. It has also been used for numerous weddings. (spaceneedleinfo.com)

The Space Needle is also used to support Seattle’s sports teams. It has painted the roof with logos from the University of Washington’s Husky football team, the Seattle Mariners, and the Seattle Supersonics to salute their success. Once, there was an oversized, inflatable baseball put on the halo to support the baseball team. (spaceneedleinfo.com)

Once, Tolt High School created a chain of fourteen thousand nine hundred eighty six gum wrappers, which they dangled from the Space Needle on November 20, 1965. Then, Paul Dorpat hung a two hundred fifty foot long “Universal Worm” from the tower in October 1971. Artist Alan Lande lit up the Space Needle as a flying saucer for a science festival in 1978. (Crowley, Walt)

One of the strangest that happened involving the Space Needle is still going on now. The Committee Hoping for Extra-Terrestrial Encounters to Save the Earth, CHEESE for short, claims to have plans from the 1962 World’s fair that show that the Space Needle was constructed to send transmissions (messages) to advanced beings (aliens) from other solar systems. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

The Space Needle has been voted for many things in the past. It was voted one of the best places to shop for Northwest souvenirs by “Seattle Magazine.” Then, in 1992, it was voted “Most Romantic Restaurant in Western Washington” by “Evening Magazine” T.V. show. It was voted “The Best Place to get Engaged” by “Seattle Weekly” in 1994. Next, Where Magazine’s Visitor’s Choice Dining Awards voted SkyCity restaurant for “Best View” in 2002 and 2003. Finally, in 2004, it was voted the “Best Place to have a Party” by “Seattle Magazine.” (Spaceneedleinfo.com)

Today, the Space Needle has an observation tower and two restaurants. To get to the observation tower, you have the option to walk eight hundred thirty two steps, or you can take one of the three elevators. (Crowley, Walt) From the observation deck on a cloudless day, you can see Elliot Bay, Downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier, the Cascade Mountains, islands, and the Olympic Mountain Range. (Destination360.com)

The elevators carry approximately four thousand five hundred pounds, which is about twenty-five people (assuming each person weighs around one hundred sixty pounds). There is a forty three second ride to the observation deck at five hundred twenty feet high. The elevator moves about ten miles per hour in good weather, fourteen feet per second, eight hundred feet per minute, or as fast as a raindrop falls to Earth. A snowflake falls about three miles per hour, so on the elevator during a snowstorm, it appears to be snowing up. In a storm, the elevators are slowed down to five miles per hour for safety reasons. Each elevator has seven cables, but the cables are strong enough that one alone could pull it. All of the elevators have locks on them, in case all seven cables break at once. (Destination360.com and spaceneedleinfo.com)

The Space Needle is a truly remarkable building. It was once the tallest building west of Mississippi and now it has been knocked down to fourth tallest, which is still really tall. Today, the Space Needle is one of Washington’s most significant landmarks.