Video: '1962 Seattle World's Fair Opening Day Coverage' (Fair official opens at 55:44)

(Saturday, April 21, 1962, noon PST) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy officially opened the six-month Century 21 Exposition, also known as the Seattle World’s Fair, with the tap of a gold telegraph key today from far-off Palm Beach, Florida.

Video: 'Vintage Video from Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair Opening Day'

The fair, which would host 9,609,969 guests through Oct. 21, 1962, saw the construction of the 606-foot-tall Space Needle building, which became a symbol of Seattle, and the Alweg monorail, as well as several sports venues (Washington State Coliseum, now Climate Pledge Arena) and performing arts buildings (the Playhouse, now the Cornish Playhouse), most of which have since been replaced or heavily remodeled.

Video: 'President John Fitzgerald Kennedy opening the Seattle Worlds Fair, April 21, 1962'

The site, slightly expanded since the fair, is now called Seattle Center; the United States Science Pavilion is now the Pacific Science Center. Another notable Seattle Center building, the Museum of Pop Culture (earlier called EMP Museum), was built nearly 40 years later and designed to fit in with the fairground atmosphere.