See Seattle Firsts

Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita than any other major city in the nation.
The P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Record Mar-Apr 1997
The first Dick and Jane children's book series was created by Seattle's Elizabeth Julesburg under the pseudonym Elizabeth Montgomery.
Seattle has the largest percentage of library card holders in the nation (80%) and spends double the national average on books every year.
Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library, started the city-reads-a-book movement, "If All Seattle Read the Same Book," in 1996 that sparked similar programs around the world including Chicago's "One Book, One Chicago."
Seattle and Minneapolis tied with the highest bookish quotient in a 2008 study by Central Connecticut State University - it measures not whether people could read but whether or not they do read.
From 1958 to 1981, Julius Pierpont (J. P.) Patches who lived in the city dump, wore a black rumpled hat and a yellow patchwork coat, portrayed by Chris Wedes (b. 1928), hosted the longest-running children's TV show in American history.
The motor for the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle has the highest gear ratio in the world - 360,000 to 1.
The Space Needle is fastened to its foundation with 72 bolts, each of which is 9m (30 feet) long - must be a record!
The world's first espresso cart was established below the Monorail terminal at Westlake Center in 1980.
The Wave, a ubiquitous sight at sporting events around the globe, was born by UW cheerleader Rob Weller at a University of Washington vs. Stanford University football game on October 31, 1981 in Seattle at U Dub's Husky Stadium - the Huskies won 42-31 (Go Dawgs!).
In 1917 the Seattle Metropolitans won three games of a four game series over the Montreal Canadiens to become the first U. S. team to win hockey's coveted Stanley Cup.
The 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116 games tying the 1906 Chicago cubs for the most games won in major league baseball history.
The term "flying saucer" first came into being when, on June 24, 1947, Seattle pilot Kenneth Arnold described the nine brilliant, boomerang-shaped bogies he saw above Mount Rainier.
On the afternoon of July 4, 1947, Frank Ryman, an off-duty U.S. Coast Guard Yeoman, snaps the first photograph of an alleged flying saucer from the yard of his home in Lake City, north of Seattle.
Jefferson Park Golf Course, in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, opened in 1915 as the country's first public golf course.
The world's first gas station opened June 14, 1907 at East Marginal Way South and Holgate Street.
The Happy Face (Smiley) first appeared in Seattle in 1967 as part of an ad campaign for WaMu.
Seattleite Jim Whittaker is renowned as the first America to reach the summit of Mount Everest (29,028 feet) on May 1, 1963.
K2, the legendary ski maker then on Vashon Island, invented the world's first fiberglass skis in 1965.
The world's first 3-point prop-riding hydroplane, named Slo-mo-shun IV, was built in Seattle in 1949 and set the world speed record that year.
On August 7, 1955, Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston, flying at more than 400 miles per hour just 400 feet above the water, stuns the crowd at the Seafair Gold Cup hydroplane race on Lake Washington by twice barrel (or aileron) rolling the prototype Dash-80, the precursor to the Boeing 707.
Seattleite and Tacoman Dale Chihuly, world renown glass sculptor, was the first person to be proclaimed a "Living National Treasure" by president George Bush in 1992.
Seattle boasts more glassblowing studios than any other city in the US and second only to the island of Murano near Venice, Italy.
In 1926 Bertha Landes was elected mayor of Seattle and became the first female mayor of a major American city.
In 1987 Seattle was the first major American city to put police on bicycles.
More people in Seattle commute to work via bicycle than any other city in the US - could be due to 30 miles of bike-pedestrian trails, 90 miles of signed bike routes and 16 miles of bike lanes on city streets.
Seattle has the nations largest movie going population per capita.
The Seattle International Film Festival, held annually mid-May to mid-June, is the largest film festival in the nation.
The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY - "Nifty") is the largest and most influential film festival and support organization for filmmakers age 22 and under in the US.
Seattle's Coliseum Theatre (now a Banana Republic) was opened by vaudeville magnate Alexander Pantages in 1915 and was the first movie palace (then silent films) built in the US.
According to a 2006 Census Bureau study, Seattle tops the list of America's most educated cities, with more than half its population 25 years and older holding at least a bachelor's degree, one of the highest rates of home internet access and among the highest in median household income.
In 1979, Seattle U was the first school in the nation to offer a Master's Degree in software engineering.
The Seattle based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with assets over $24 billion, is the largest foundation in history and is dedicated to improving people's lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community.
Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center receives more funding from the federal government than any other cancer research facility in the nation.
The largest wireless (Wi-Fi) network in the world is at Microsoft's corporate headquarters campus.
In 1921, the progressive Seattle Symphony had Madame Mary Davenport-Engberg, the world’s first woman to conduct a symphony orchestra (in Bellingham, Washington), as its conductor.
Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet has the highest per capita dance attendance in the US with 11,000 subscribers.
The first general strike in the nation was in Seattle in 1919 - it lasted five days, February 6-11, as 60,000 shipyard workers walked off their jobs.
Seattle was the first major US city to provide free bus service in its central business district.
Gas Works Park, built in 1906, became the first industrial site / park conversion in the country in 1962.
Northgate shopping mall, built in 1950, became the world's first regional covered shopping mall.
In 1983, Barney Clark, a dentist from nearby Des Moines, was the first person in the US to receive a permanently implanted artificial heart.
The Farmer's Market at Pike Place Market, since 1907, is the longest continuously operating farmer's market in the US.
The nation's first Skid Road (a.k.a. Skid Row) was built the early 1850s by loggers down then Mill Street which is now Yesler Way in Pioneer Square.
Pioneer Square has the country's largest collection of Victorian and Romanesque architecture.
The Mercer Island Floating Bridge (now I-90), built in 1950 was the first floating bridge in the world.
The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (SR-520) is the longest floating bridge in the world.
The Mount Baker tunnel (I-90) is the longest soft earth tunnel in the world.
Harbor Island, completed in 1909, was then the largest man made island in the US.
In 1914 Smith Tower at 42 stories became the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, next the Space Needle in 1962 at the equivalent of 60½ stories and then in 1985 Columbia Tower at 76 stories.
The Seattle Aquarium is the world's first aquarium with a salmon ladder, to have born a sea otter in captivity and to have born a giant octopus (65 pounds) in captivity.
The Washington State Ferry System is the largest Ferry System in the US and the state's number one tourist attraction.
The Coleman Dock / Washington State Ferry Terminal - Pier 52 is the busiest ferry landing in the US.
Seattle's Elliott Bay is home to the world's largest tugboat races held annually in May.
One out of every five Seattleites owns some kind of boat causing local mariners to call Seattle the boating Capitol of the world.
Seattle's houseboat population is the largest east of the Orient.
The gas turbine Victoria Clipper IV catamaran that shuttles between Seattle and Victoria, BC is the fastest passenger vessel in North American waters with speeds exceeding 50 mph.
Nearby Snoqualmie Falls plunges 100 feet further than Niagara Falls.
Seattle has been acclaimed "the most honest city in America" by Reader's Digest - Oct 1996.
Seattle has been named the fittest city in the US in the February 2005 issue of Men's Fitness magazine.
Seattle is the only city in the United States where a successful commercial classical radio station, Classic KING-FM (98.1 FM), is owned by a non-profit corporation (Beethoven).
KOMO TV (ABC in Seattle) became the first station in the world to broadcast daily local news in DTV on May 18, 1999 and the first in the US to broadcast daily local news in HDTV on February 16, 2000.
The press box at Safeco Field is the largest press box in the US.
The only NBA basketball game to be called off due to rain was in Seattle on January 5, 1986 due to a leaky roof at the Seattle Center Coliseum (Seattle Sonics vs. Phoenix Suns in 2nd quarter).