50 years ago in Expo history: The mayor was invited to his Seattle counterpart’s ‘inaugural ball’ to celebrate the fair

Why were Spokane Mayor David H. Rodgers and his wife invited to Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman’s “Mayor’s Inaugural Ball” in Seattle?

Because the Inaugural Ball was incorporating a “Salute to Expo ’74” theme into the festivities. A long list of Expo officials was invited, including King Cole and Petr Spurney.

The Inaugural Ball would be held, fittingly, at Seattle Center, the site of Seattle’s Century 21 World’s Fair in 1962.

In other Expo ’74 news, the coming weekend would be the last chance to stroll through the Expo ’74 grounds in advance of the May 4 opening.

Exhibitors were installing interior fixtures, and the Spokane Daily Chronicle said that the site would “become too vulnerable to burglars and vandals to leave it open” from that point on.

From 100 years ago: Frank L. Justice was in his barracks with his fellow Fort George Wright soldiers when he said, “Well, boys, you might as well blow taps.”

Then he fatally shot himself.

The next day, his mother said “a young woman with whom the boy had kept company,” had recently received a letter in which he stated he “could not continue to live without her.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1900: U.S. currency goes on gold standard after Congress passes the Currency Act.

1973: Future U.S. senator John McCain is released after spending more than five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.

2013: Xi Jinping named President of the People’s Republic of China.