This This Week in Cascadia: March 26-31 is a weekly segment. You can view all Weeks in Cascadia history from its main page here.
March 26, 2000 – At 8:32 a.m. Seattle’s Kingdome stadium, originally called the King
County Multipurpose Domed Stadium, is imploded. Thousands of spectators crowd
Seattle’s streets, hills, sidewalks, and waterfront to watch the dome’s destruction.
Onlookers view the implosion outside a “restricted zone” that extends several blocks
around the stadium. The blast sets off a small earthquake measuring 2.3 on the Richter
Scale. The implosion took place in two phases, totaling 16.8 seconds, with minimal
impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Standing for 24 years, the Kingdome’s 660-
foot concrete dome was the largest in the world, and many onlookers gathered pieces of
concrete rubble as souvenirs of the Kingdome and its climactic end. You can read more about the Kingdome from King 5 here.
March 27, 1890 – Women win school suffrage in Washington when Governor Elisha P.
Ferry signs the School Suffrage Act into law. The act enfranchises women to vote in local
school district elections, but not for state or county superintendents.
March 28, 1964 – A tsunami generated by the Good Friday Earthquake (magnitude of
9.2, the second largest earthquake ever recorded and largest ever recorded in North
America) near Alaska come ashore along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, killing four
children at Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon and 11 people in Crescent City, Northern
California. The subsequent flooding inundated parts of Cannon Beach, Oregon and
washed away the Route 101 highway bridge located on the north side of city. The city,
now isolated from the highway, decided to attract visitors by holding a sand castle
contest-an event that still continues annually every June.
March 29, 1778 – Captain James Cook lands at Nootka (‘Friendly Cove’) on the west
coast of Vancouver Island, after 8 month voyage from England en route to search for a
western entrance to the North West Passage, marking the first Europeans to set foot on
the island. His ship, the HMS Resolution, anchors 5 miles (8 km) east of the Nuu-chah-
nulth village of Yuquot, where the crew traded lead, pewter, and iron goods for sea otter
pelts.
March 30, 1942 – Bainbridge Island residents become the first to be interned under Executive Order 9066 and Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, which gives the US military the authority to intern anyone they consider “dangerous” simply because they were Nikkei, persons of Japanese ancestry.
Early that morning, 275 Bainbridge Island men, women, and children are escorted by armed soldiers to the Eagledale ferry landing, only taking what they could carry or wear. They solemnly boarded the ferry Kehioken and departed on a lonely journey to the mainland where they will experience three years of
unconstitutional internment.
March 31, 2000 – Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for the Cedar River Watershed Education Center on the shores of Rattlesnake Lake in eastern King County, Washington. After opening comments from Dr. Leon Leeds, Landmarks and Heritage Commission chair, and an invocation by Snoqualmie Tribe Chairman Andy De Los Angeles, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell joins with members of the Friends of the Cedar River to dig the first spadeful of earth. The Center comprises five buildings, linked by covered walkways and roofs of sod, the Cedar River Watershed Education Center is intended to be a cultural and
environmental education center for all residents and visitors to King County. Located just
outside the boundaries of the watershed, overlooking Rattlesnake Lake, the Center
provides information about King County’s drinking water, forests, and salmon. It houses
artifacts relating to the 9,400-year history of human activity in the watershed.
This Week in Cascadia: March 26-31 is a weekly segment. You can view all Weeks in Cascadia history from its main page here.
