via VintageSeattle

Around the time of the 1962 World’s Fair, plenty of Seattle visionaries were doing some thinking about how to make Seattle into…all together now…a World Class City.

We need a stadium, many said.

Remember, this was before the Kingdome. There were two major sports stadiums in town: Sicks’ Stadium in Rainier Valley and Husky Stadium in Montlake. Sicks’ Stadium was aging and tiny, with barely a quarter of the capacity of modern-day Safeco Field. Husky Stadium was long established, with a 55,000 seat capacity, but not considered to be appropriate for the pro football team some locals dreamed of.

So how do we build a stadium?

Well, said some local construction people, we’ve already built what’s now Seattle Center. Let’s make use of the established infrastructure there and build a stadium nearby.

In fact, hell. We’re the town of floating bridges. Let’s build a floating stadium in Elliott Bay.

Jess Cliffe over at VintageSeattle dug up the original proposal documents, including a pencil sketch drawing and diagram of the building.

“It is felt generally that the facility could be provided somewhere in the range of a $15,000,000 budget,” the planners claimed.

For all of us who complain about Seattle’s poor waterfront planning and the ugly viaduct, let’s remember: it could have been worse.