Years to build… 17 seconds to implode…
March 26, 2024
The era of professional football in the United States was ascendant in the 1950’s and into the early 1960’s. Pretty much every major city in the United States wanted to get in on the action.
But for many cities, weather was a limiting factor. After all, playing in a foot of snow, blistering heat, or constant rain, was not ideal for the players or the fans. In the 1950’s the dream of indoor stadiums took hold. It was in Houston, in the early 1960’s, when the first such venue – the Astrodome – became a reality. Others followed.
Many in Washington State longed to have a pro-football franchise and believed the rainy climate on the west side of the Cascade Mountains called for an indoor stadium. Thus began the quest to build what would eventually be named “The Kingdome.”
It was in 1959 when the idea was first proposed but it took until 1976 for the vision to become a reality. The Infallible Wikipedia tells us:
“The idea of constructing a covered stadium for a major league football or baseball team was first proposed to Seattle officials in 1959. Voters rejected separate measures to approve public funding for such a stadium in 1960 and 1966, but the outcome was different in 1968; King County voters approved the issue of $40 million in municipal bonds to construct the stadium.
Construction began in 1972 and the stadium opened in 1976 as the home of the Sounders and Seahawks. The Mariners moved in the following year, and the SuperSonics moved in the year after that, only to move back to the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1985.”
The Kingdome, named as such due to its location in King County, Washington, served the community as a venue not only for the Seahawks and other sports teams, but also as an event center to host large events such as the Seattle Home Show and the Seattle Boat Show as well as many rock concerts over the years.
“In the Seahawks’ heyday, the Kingdome was known as one of the loudest stadiums in the league. Opposing teams were known to practice with jet engine sounds blaring at full blast to prepare for the painfully high decibel levels typical of Seahawks games. It was where Seahawks fans, who were long called “the 12th Man” and led the Seahawks to retire the number 12 in honor of them in 1984, made their reputation as one of the most ravenous fan bases in the NFL, a reputation that has carried over to what is now Lumen Field. The Kingdome’s reputation contributed to the NFL’s 1989 vote in favor of enacting a rule penalizing home teams for excessive crowd noise.”
But, if there was one word to describe the Kingdome it would be ‘utilitarian.’ How else to explain the huge gray cement mushroom which lacked any aesthetic appeal? But it did the job and also became infamous among the indoor venues for the noise levels. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:
By the 1990’s, the first iteration of domed stadiums had outlived their appeal and useful life. The Kingdome’s roof – problematic from the beginning – had a partial roof collapse in July 1994, and the venue was closed for repairs for nearly four months. But the problems did not end there, threats by then owner, Ken Behring, to move the team out of Seattle – and the Mariners insistence on a new baseball venue – eventually led to the decision to replace the Kingdome.
It was on Sunday, March 26, 2000, when the Kingdome was finally reduced to a pile of rubble, paving the way for the construction of the next generation of a football stadium in Seattle.
It was a clear and pleasant day and, of course, all the local TV stations had been covering the story for months as everything from inside the building was removed leaving, at last, the concrete shell. For weeks – who knows maybe it was months – holes were drilled in the walls and a serpentine of detonating cord was laid. Eventually dynamite was inserted into the holes and it was all connected up in anticipation of the implosion which would take down the concrete beast.
At the time, my family was living on the eastside of Lake Sammamish, about 13 miles – as the crow flies – from the Kingdome. We gathered around the TV and watched live as the first sticks of dynamite on the roof sent streaks of sparks down the spines and the chain reaction encircled the building. It was over in a matter of seconds as clouds of dust obliterated the area. Me, the hubby, and our two kids – then ages 10 and 7 – once the main event was over, rushed out to our west facing deck and a few seconds later the sound waves of the Kingdome’s demise reached us.
It was a surreal experience.
In some ways I miss the Kingdome and all it represented. It was Seattle – and Washington States’ – message to the world that we were ready to play with the big boys. The construction of the Kingdome represented a heady era in Seattle as we welcomed the Seahawk celebrities of the era: Jim Zorn, Steve Largent, and Sherman Smith to name a few. We were hometown proud of the Nordstrom family for owning the team and you could find no more loyal fans anywhere.
It was, truly, a bittersweet day when the Kingdome came down. It’s been gone for 24 years now but for those of us who lived in King County in that era, it won’t ever be forgotten.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdome
https://youtu.be/Yt2ekbkDVv4?si=MPgKbrFeS3BCkCtZ – Issued on the 20th anniversary from the Seahawks is this recap of the implosion
https://www.concertarchives.org/venues/kingdome
barbaradevore.com 